


Forgotten In Hell

by SisterSigil



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel Wings, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Forced Ejaculation, Forced Orgasm, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Supernatural Elements, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Wing Kink, Wing Oil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:20:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 54,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22837702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SisterSigil/pseuds/SisterSigil
Summary: Winter 2024. Things have been pretty quiet for the Winchesters. The world isn't ending. Both brothers are in stable relationships. Life is good. That is until Dean starts getting nightmares and a phone call that will change everything. His past in Hell has come back to haunt him and he has everything to lose, even more than he knows.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Rowena MacLeod/Sam Winchester
Comments: 22
Kudos: 42





	1. Year of the Snake

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story like each chapter is another episode of the show (with the boys going after the monster of the week), but with a main story arc driving it forward. It would start around winter of season 19 (2024). I have more planned, but this first part is just the last half of season 19. I started writing this while watching season 13, so the story kind of diverges from the show around season13/14. I have tried to keep how everything works compliant with the Supernatural Universe, but there are a few minor details that I needed to change. I hope you like it (this is the first story I've ever written). I'd love to hear from you, please comment!

Images of the Pit flash by. Someone screaming, pleading. The voice, full of so much anguish and pain. He wants to help them but he can’t. Why can’t he help? Why can’t he move? “No! No, please!” the voice yells. His voice. He’s the one screaming. Hands grab him, everywhere, violating him, forcing him on top of someone else, a woman. She struggles and fights back but the hands hold her down and force him to enter as she cries out. Jolts of electricity wrack his body over and over. Pain courses through every part of him. Pain and release, pleasure and shame. 

Dean bolts up, covered in sweat, breathing heavily. His own screams echo in is mind. Catching his breath, he realizes he is tangled in the bed sheets. Alone. “Damn it, Cas.” He whispers the swear. Nightmares are nothing new to Dean, but these last few days have been relentless. He rubs his hand down his face, trying to scrub away the residue of the dream. It would be better having Cas next to him, soothing his mind and body with just a touch, a kiss, a deep whisper of assurance. Holding him safe until he can fall asleep again. 

“I’m ok,” he says to the empty room, knowing it’s a lie but willing to make it so. Moping isn’t going to bring Cas home any sooner. He only left a few weeks ago, taking Jack on a world tour of Angelic sites and relics to help further the Nephilum’s education. The trip is really important to both of them, and Dean isn’t going to call Cas back just because he had a bad dream. He looks at his phone. 5am. Not quite 4 hours but close enough. 

He gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom. The strong spray and warm water of the shower helps wash away the chills that still cling to him from his nightmare. Dressing in jeans and a dark green Henley, he heads to the kitchen in search of coffee. Sam is already there, working on his computer. Without a word Dean heads over to the already brewed pot of coffee and pours himself a mug. He sits down at the table and takes a sip, breathing in the aroma. After a moment he realizes Sam is staring at him. “What?” he grumbles.

“You look like crap. Did you get any sleep last night?”

“No.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“No.” He says with finality, taking another sip. Sam rolls his eyes and goes back to his laptop. Dean looks around the room. It’s just the two of them. “Rowena still getting her beauty sleep?”

“She left last night for Scotland. Says she needed to look into some things ‘back in the old country.’” He imitates her Scottish accent. “She’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“Oh.” Dean smirks.

“Shut up.”

“Bitch.”

“Jerk.”

Dean goes back to his coffee. At this point, he doesn’t mind Sam’s relationship with Rowena. She’s not the one he would have picked for his little brother, but it works for them. Both had suffered deeply at the hands of Lucifer, and no one could really understand what that was like, not even Dean. But since they started sleeping together, Sam seemed more... at ease, happy even. And Rowena.… Over the last few years, she’d been ready to help with whatever crisis they were in the middle of, without causing any of her own. However, she didn’t like to be tied down, and would travel for weeks at a time, leaving Sammy to mope around the Bunker. Well good, now they could mope together. Maybe that’s why Sam was already up, looking for a case.

“What?” Dean says, realizing Sam had just spoken to him.

“What do you know about Chinese New Years?”

“It’s the one with all the animals. What are you again, something lame, uh... Pig.”

"Yeah, and you’re a Horse.”

“Stallion, Sammy, a wild stallion.” Dean jokes back. The coffee is starting to wake him up, making him forget his sleepless night for the moment. 

“So get this. Every 12 Years in San Antonio, during the Chinese New Year’s celebration for the Year of the Snake, there is a rash of missing persons reports. Bodies for some of the missing have eventually been found with their brains and livers missing.”

“How hasn’t this popped up on our radar before, or any other hunter’s for that matter.”

“The disappearances only started 48 years ago, so it’s only happen 3 times” Sam replies. “And during the last Year of the Snake, a hunter did go to investigate, Noah Johnson, now also among the missing.”

“So when does Chinese New Years start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Let me guess. Year of the Snake?”

Dean’s phone rings. Putting down his coffee, he checks the number. Unknown, Monson, ME. He hesitates before answering, “Hello?”

After a moment of silence, a voice crackles over the poor connection. “Dean Winchester?” The voice is young, female. 

“Yes.”

“I have a letter for you.”

“A letter from who?”

“Benny.”

The name hits Dean like a lead weight. His mind races with a thousand questions. “Who is this?” he demands in a commanding voice, drawing Sam’s attention away from his computer.

“He said you would come pick me up. About a day’s hike South of the Portal. I’m at an abandoned Gas’n’Sip. Route 15, mile marker 132. How long until you get here?”

Kansas to Maine, that’s over a day’s drive without any stops. “Tomorrow afternoon.”

“Dammit!” The girl’s voice sounds annoyed. “Just hurry, the weather sucks.”

Dean starts to interject, “Now wait just a...” Click. The line goes dead. “Hello? Hello?” Dean turns off his phone, and just stares at it, until Sam interrupts his thoughts. 

“What was that all about?”

“Some kid. Says she has a letter from Benny.”

The name hangs between them. Benny was a subject they didn’t bring up. Sam never trusted him. But in the end, Benny had come through for them, giving up his second chance at life on Earth to rescue Sam when he was stuck in Purgatory during the second trial. 

“That’s impossible,” Sam finally replies. 

“The call came from Monson, Maine. Says she came through the Portal.” 

“If she’s telling the truth…”

“…then she’s human.” Dean finishes. 

Sam knows that determined look on his face. “I’m not letting you go by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dean protests. 

“It could be a trap.”

“You don’t think I know that! When is it never a trap with us.” Dean didn’t mean to snap, but with the lack of sleep, lack of Cas, and now something with Benny, he’s on edge. He takes a breath to calm down. “Besides, what about Chinese New Year?”

Sam thinks for a moment. “Chris and Joel generally hang near Texas.”

“You want to pass this one off?”

“They can handle it,” Sam says. “Besides, if something is going on with Purgatory, we need to know about it.”

………………………….

The freezing rain has thankfully slowed to a drizzle, but it added time to their trip. It’s well after dark when the Impala finally rumbles to a stop outside the Gas’n’Sip, headlights illuminating the barren interior through broken windows and a missing door. The phone booth next to the abandoned building is also empty. The door to the change receptacle hangs open, the lock having been picked, not smashed, Dean notes. The boys step out into the rain, drawing their guns. 

“Doesn’t look like anyone is here,” Sam whispers to Dean. 

“Hello?” Dean calls out, but no one responds. He looks at Sam and nods his head towards the building. They advance to either side of the door and enter, providing cover for each other. The shelves that remain have been picked clean and the aisles are empty. Leaves have blown in, filling the corners of the room. The roof is leaking in several spots and the floor is slick with rain. 

Sam breaks the silence. “So, where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

They head back outside, only to see a small figure standing next to Baby, an axe held casually in her left hand. They quickly react and aim their weapons at her, but with Baby’s blinding headlights aimed straight at their faces, they can’t really see much. “Son of a Bitch,” Dean whispers to himself. They were just set up and caught off guard by a kid. 

“You must be Sam and Dean.” The girl’s voice rings clear with confidence.

“And you are?” Dean asks gruffly. 

“First show me your tattoos,” she calmly demands. 

The boys look at each other with surprise, then pull down their collars to reveal the anti-possession symbols. Satisfied, she slowly puts the axe into a holster on her back. The boys lower their guns. 

“Benny asked me to give you this.” The girl cautiously takes a few steps forward into the light and reaches out with a letter in her hand. She’s young, no more than 13 or 14. Her short hair is plastered down by the rain, and she is soaked through. Dean steps forward, and takes the letter without breaking eye contact. She matches his gaze. Stepping back, he finally looks down at the letter while Sam keeps a wary eye on the girl. Using the headlights to illuminate the worn paper, Dean recognizes Benny’s scrawl.

Hey Brother,   
I’ve looked after Zoey as long as I could. Maybe I was being selfish, not sending her to you sooner. Now it’s your turn to keep her safe. Don’t disappoint me or I will come back to Earth and kick your ass.   
Benny. 

Dean hands the letter off to Sam, turning his attention back to the girl. “I take it you’re Zoey?” The girl just roll her eyes at him. “What does Benny mean, he looked after you?”

“We looked after each other,” she corrects. “We’re hunting partners.” She says it like hunting, with a vampire, is a normal thing. She rolls up her sleeve and holds out her right arm. It’s covered in old bruises and her knuckles are scraped up. “Benny said to let you do your tests, then go with you.” 

Dean shares a glance with Sam, they had all the Purgatory tests ready to go. He trades his gun for a silver knife and a vial of soapy, salty, holy water. Taking her hand he cuts her forearm and then splashes the wound with the solution. She never flinches. 

“You cold?” he asks her, concern creeping into his voice. Her fingers feel like ice, and now that he’s closer he can see the bluish tinge to her lips, as she fights to hide her shivering. 

“I’m fine,” she replies curtly. 

“When was the last time you ate or slept?”

“It’s… been a while.” She reluctantly admits.

Dean pulls out a bandana and ties it around her arm. “Give us a moment.” Zoey backs off, pulling her sleeve back down and putting Baby between herself and the boys. Dean doesn’t miss that the move gives her cover in case she needs to flee.

“What do you think?” the younger Winchester talks in a low voice to avoid being overheard.

Dean glances at the letter again as Sam hands it back to him. “That’s Benny’s handwriting.” He folds it up and places it inside his jacket. 

“She apparently knows about us.”

“Come on, Sammy, everybody knows about us.”

“She’s human.”

“And sporting Purgatory’s finest. I counted at least 3 makeshift blades in addition to the axe.” 

Sam sighs. “How is this even possible?”

“I have no idea. But, whoever she is, she’s still a hungry, exhausted kid fighting off hypothermia.”

“So, we take her with us.”

“At least until we get more answers.” Dean opens the back door to the Impala and calls out to the girl. “Come on, kiddo. We’ve got a warm blanket in the back seat and we can stop for food on the road.”

Zoey stares warily at the Impala.

Sam speaks with a soft voice, trying not to sound threatening. “Look, we’re not going to hurt you. You’re safe with us.”

She rolls her eyes and gets in the car. 

Dean closes the door. “Don’t take your eyes off her,” he says quietly to Sam. “I do not want that axe in the back of my head.”

……………………..

An hour later, the Impala is parked outside a truck stop. The rain has finally stopped for the night. Sam jumps out to use the facilities and get them a table while Dean gasses up. Neon lights from the diner filter into the back seat, where Zoey is sleeping. She passed out after only 5 min on the road, overcome by weariness and lulled by the purr of the engine. Dean finally gets a better look at her. Her lean frame is curled up with the blanket, cradling her axe like a favorite teddy bear. Her short brown hair has dried into some epic bed head. Thankfully some color has returned to her face and she is no longer shivering. Her clothes are worn thin and patched in places with crude thread, and the soles of her boots are worn smooth in places. She still doesn’t stir, even after he re-parks closer to the diner. Dean opens the back door and calls her name but she is out. He hesitates, then gently touches her leg to wake her. 

With a jolt, Zoey sits up, swinging her axe, stopping just short of Dean’s neck. Her dark green eyes dart between his light green ones and the axe blade resting on his neck. Very, very slowly, Dean reaches up and moves the head of the axe away. 

“Hey, it’s ok. Relax. Time for food. We need to stow the weapons, there are civilians here.”

After a moment, she lets out a shaky sigh and responds with a weak nod. She follows Dean around to the trunk, and lets out a whistle, as she takes in the weapons. After reluctantly agreeing to lock up her axe (she wouldn’t part with her knives and Dean wasn’t about to make her), the two walk into the diner where Sam is already talking to the hostess. Dean points out the ladies restroom to Zoey. “Why don’t you go wash up, we’ll get a table.”

“Three please. A booth in the back, thank you.” Sam says to the hostess. She gathers up the menus and starts to lead them back to a booth.

Dean whispers to Sam, “A word of advice. If you value your life, do not wake her when she is sleeping.”

“Like you’re any better in the mornings.” Sam teases, drawing a glare from his older brother.

The hostess plants them in the corner, and heads off to another table asking a trucker if he wants a refill on his coffee before hitting the road. A few other patrons are scattered here and there, but all of the tables immediately surrounding them are empty.

Zoey peeks her head around the corner, scanning the room with a calculating squint and slight head tilt. Her short locks are still sticking up at all angles. Dean notes that she takes in the exits as well as the people before heading over to them. As soon as she sits, a friendly waitress approaches with 3 glasses of water balanced on a tray. She unloads the glasses onto the table. “Evening folks! What can I get you? Miss?” she smiles turning to Zoey first.

Zoey achingly tears her eyes away from the water, to the waitress. A few second pass without a word, before Zoey turns to Dean, eyes pleading for help. Dean speaks up. “I’ll make this easy. 2 coffees, a hot chocolate, 2 bacon cheese burgers, and a salad.”

“Coming right up.”

Once the three of them are alone, Zoey picks up her glass and drains it. Dean slides his water in front of her. “Ok, talk.” He keeps his voice soft and calm, but it’s time to get down to business.

“What do you want to know?” she says, drinking from the second glass more slowly.

“How do you know Benny?”

“Like I said, we’re hunting partners.”

“In Purgatory?” Dean challenges.

“Uh, yeah,” she answers sarcastically.

Sam joins in, “What were you even doing in Purgatory?”

“Well, first I was hunting on my own. Then I met Benny and we hunted together.”

“So, what?” Dean chides. “You meet a vampire and just trust him?”

“You did,” Zoey quips back.

Sam interrupts them, “No, I mean, how did you get to Purgatory in the first place?”

“Oh, I took a passage from Hell. Found a map in the Library,” she replies nonchalantly.

The boys were not expecting that answer. “You were in Hell?!” Dean exclaims at the same time Sam blurts out, “Hell has a Library?!” They do, however, keep their voices low.

“Yes, I grew up there. And yes, it has a Library.” 

Now Dean has heard everything, “You ‘grew up’ in Hell?!”

“Wait, where are your parents?” Sam demands.

Zoey’s dark green eyes dart back and forth between them. “I’ve more or less been on my own as long as I can remember.”

Dean leans forward, “So, what, you were born there?”

Zoey shrugs, “It wasn’t by choice.” 

Sam is trying to wrap his head around this. “Is that even possible? You’re human.”

“Look, up until 3 days ago, I have only ever been Hell or Hell Adjacent. The Library was a good place to hide from Demons. Most look stuff up on those phone things, so the reference section is pretty quiet. Well, except for the worms.” 

“Worms?” the boys speak at the same time.

“Bookworms.” Zoey clarifies, but they still seem confused. “What, you don’t have those here?”

The waitress returns with a tray of food and the conversation stops as she unloads the contents. “2 coffees, 2 bacon cheese burgers, 1 hot chocolate, 1 salad. Enjoy!” She heads off to another table that is waiting for their bill. Zoey eyes the burgers and then looks down at the salad in front of her, crestfallen; until Sam grabs the plate and switches it with the burger that was mistakenly placed in front of him. Relief washes over her face as she grabs the burger and starts to devour it, obviously starving.

“Hey, kiddo, slow down. Chew your food.” Dean picks up his burger and starts to eat at a normal pace, for Dean at least.

Sam watches the two of them eat for a moment before rolling his eyes and restarting their conversation. “So, let me get this straight. You grew up in Hell, found a map in the Library, took a passage to Purgatory, where you hunted monsters and made friends with a vampire?”

“Yup,” Zoey answers between mouthfuls. “This is so good. It’s cooked!” She wipes her mouth on her sleeve, and then points at the fries. “What are those?”

“French fries.” Dean answers.

Zoey picks one up by the center and shoves it in her mouth.

“Try them with Ketchup. Like this.” Dean opens the bottle and shakes some onto each of their plates. He picks up a fry by one end, dips it into the ketchup and eats it. Zoey does the same, and approves of the taste. She alternates between french fries with ketchup and chomping on her burger.

Sam brings them back on topic again. “Why didn’t Benny send you through the Portal to Earth sooner?”

“Oh, he tried. I didn’t want to go,” she states around a mouthful.

“You voluntarily stayed in Purgatory?” Sam stammers in disbelief.

“Purgatory’s not so bad. It’s a lot better than Hell. Nice scenery. Had a friend. You don’t have to worry about eating or sleeping. And I’d rather fight monsters than hide from Demons... exorcisms don’t really help when you’re already in Hell.”

Dean nods along, seeing the logic in her reasoning. “So, what made you change your mind?

Zoey puts down her burger and stops eating for the first time since the food has arrived. “Demons,” she says grimly, wiping her mouth on the back of her sleeve. “A few weeks ago they started tracking us.… Tracking me,” she corrects, sounding ashamed.

“There aren’t any Demons in Purgatory.” Dean states.

“Exactly,” she agrees. “Or at least, there aren’t supposed to be. That’s when Benny insisted I take the Portal to you. He said you guys would know how to help.”

Sam and Dean look at each other. There hasn’t been much Demon activity lately on Earth. Things have been pretty quiet except for run of the mill monsters and hauntings. It’s one of the reasons Cas and Jack felt it was ok to go on their trip. Apparently life is about to get complicated again. 

Zoey picks up her burger and takes another bite. “But if Benny had told me the food was this good? I would have come here ages ago.”

“Try the hot chocolate,” Dean suggests. Her eyes light up as she tastes the sweet drink.

………………………..

This early in the morning traffic is still light and they are making good time. Dean looks over at Sam sleeping in the passenger seat, then glances back at Zoey in the rear view mirror. She passed out again shortly after leaving the diner, and he hadn’t heard a sound from her, until now. She stirs. Dreaming. Nightmares. After another minute, she startles awake, looking around wildly, taking in her surroundings, until recognition washes over her and she lets out a sigh. Her green eyes land on Dean’s in the mirror. “You ok, kiddo?” He keeps his voice low to avoid waking Sammy. 

She holds his gaze a bit longer before turning away to look out the window. Her face softens, eyes growing wide with wonder. “Is that, the Sun?” she whispers.

Dean looks over his shoulder. The small orange disc is just starting to push above the horizon. He looks back at her in the mirror. “First Sun Rise?”

She just nods her head. 

Dean sees sign for a scenic overlook coming up and pulls over. “Come on,” he says, as he puts the car in park and gets out. Zoey follows him over to the railing, where they have an unobstructed view of the sun as it rises above the tress, bathing the valley below them in a warm glow.

“It’s so bright,” she whispers. They watch the rest of the sun rise in silence. 

…………………….

Miles later, Dean yawns and stretches. He is tired, but he doesn’t want to switch with Sam until he is exhausted enough to sleep without dreaming. Avoiding his own Nightmares. He reaches over and turns on the radio. Startled by the sudden noise, Zoey practically jumps over the seat, knife in hand, ready to attack. 

Sam holds his hands up in a non-threatening manner. “Woah, woah.”

Dean barks out a command, “Put the knife down.”

Zoey stares at the radio. “What is that?”

“It’s just music,” Sam replies.

“Knife. Down,” Dean orders.

Zoey puts her knife away and hangs over the back of the seat, staring at the radio. 

“What,” Dean asks, “you’ve never heard music before?”

Zoey shakes her head no. 

“Seriously?” he says.

She rolls her eyes at Dean. “The music scene in Hell is pretty dead.”

Sam laughs. 

“Oh, we need to fix this. Sammy, get my tapes. Lesson one. Classic Rock. Led Zeppelin, Ramble On.”

…………………………..

It’s late when they finally get home to the Bunker. Dean is having a drink in the Library before turning in, when Sam enters. 

“I got her set up in a spare room. Found a few things that might fit her, but we’ll need to take her shopping in the morning. She’s got nothing but the clothes on her back. 

“And a half dozen knives,” Dean adds.

“So, what do you think?”

“I think she’s been through a lot. Purgatory’s intense. But she talks about it like it was summer camp.”

Sam huffs. “After growing up in Hell it probably was.”

“You buy her story?”

“Actually, I do. It’s as much of what she knows as what she doesn’t. Food, music.... I had to explain the shower to her, and soap. She wasn’t too interested in it until I mentioned it burns Leviathan.”

Dean ponders that for a moment before draining his glass. “Alright, I’m beat.”

“Try to get some sleep,” Sam calls after him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dean grumbles as he makes his way out of the Library.

………………………..

The next morning, Dean is riffling through the fridge. After driving for nearly 15 hours the previous day, exhaustion finally caught up with him and he slept without dreaming. But one good night is not enough to erase the past week of sleep deprivation, so he is still a little grumpy. “Hey, Sam! I thought we still had some pie?”

“We did?” Sam nods towards the table where Zoey, clean, washed, and swimming in an oversized t-shirt, has a fork and the pie tin, reading a book in German. 

“This is pie?” she asks with her mouth full. “It’s good. Can we get more?” 

Dean looks longingly at the pie. Sam gives him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, “Now you know how I feel.” Dean sticks his head back in the fridge to look for something else. Sam leaves his older brother to fend for himself, turning back to the girl. “Hey Zoey, did the Demons ever say anything when they where chasing you? Anything that could give us a clue as to why they are after you, where they came from, who sent them?”

“No, but we didn’t really stop to ask. Fighting off monsters 24/7 plus a Demon hunting party, we were constantly on the run for the last few weeks.”

Dean comes out of the fridge with a container of half eaten take out. After taking a whiff, it ends up in the trash. “Well, we need to make a food run anyway. Might as well get you inked up and find you some clothes that haven’t been pulled off a corpse.”

“Wait, how did you get your clothes?” She asks with genuine curiosity.

Dean just looks at her incredulously, while Sam ignores the remark. “You guys go, I want to look up some things in the Archives.”

………………………..

Zoey’s eyes dart around, sizing up each person they pass for potential threats. For the tenth time since entering the Mall, Dean reminds her that they are not in Purgatory and the people around them are just people, mostly.

“It’s like walking through Hell, but no one is screaming,” she observes. 

‘They’re only screaming on the inside’ Dean thinks to himself as they enter a big box clothing store. Zoey stifles a yawn while Dean leads her down the aisles of clothing racks.

“Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Not really.”

“Bed too soft?” Dean says jokingly.

“Actually, yeah. I’ve never slept on a bed before. The car was better.”

They reach the girls section, where racks of stretchy, sparkly, sequined, brightly colored clothes assail their eyes. Zoey takes a step back like she’s being attacked.

“Ok, go pick out some things,” Dean instructs, wanting to get this over with. But, she just stares at the clothing, trying to figure out if this is a fight or flight situation. “What?” he prods.

“I don’t get it.” 

“Get what?”

“They don’t look like your clothes.”

“That’s because we are in the girls section.”

“What do you people have against girls!? These clothes are... dysfunctional?” Zoey grabs a ridiculous strappy low cut dress with cut outs in the back and shoulders. “Like, what IS this?”

“It’s a dress.” 

“What’s its purpose?”

“Some people find dresses... attractive, and appealing.” 

“Well, it’s impractical for hunting.” 

“You don’t have to get a dress.” Dean takes the dress from her and puts it back on the rack. He grabs the closest pair of jeans and tosses them to her. Zoey catches them and proceeds to unfold a pair of glittery skinny-jeans with precut holes. Metallic writing across the butt spells out the word Juicy. 

“Seriously?! They don’t even have pockets. Where am I supposed to keep my knives?”

Just then, a mother passes by with her tween in tow. At the mention of weaponry, she eyes them suspiciously, pulls her daughter in close, and quickly leaves the area. 

Dean sighs, “Ok, I see this isn’t going to work.... Come with me.” 

*******

Sam is spread out in the Library. Laptop, old texts, files about Demons from the Men of Letters Archives strewn across the table. The door to the Bunker squeaks open, and he looks up to see Dean and Zoey enter, weighed down with shopping bags. Zoey is now wearing boys denim jeans with pockets, a plain T-shirt, zip-hoodie, jacket, and new boots. 

“I see the shopping went well.”

“And we didn’t have to kill anyone,” Zoey says, still in disbelief.

“You should have let me kill that lady who took the last pie,” Dean whines.

“She wasn’t a monster.”

“Says you.”

“Hey look, I’m pack now.” She pulls down her collar to show Sam her new tattoo of the anti-possession symbol. She picks up one of the books written in Latin, and starts thumbing through it. “Find anything?”

“Nothing. Not a single reference to a Human being born on any plane of existence except for Earth. But there are still a lot of texts to go through.” 

Dean takes in the pile of books. “This is going to take a while to research.”

“That’s not our only problem,” Sam’s voice is worried. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with Chris and Joel, but both phones go straight to voice mail.”

“How long since you first tried to reach out?”

“I sent my first text last night after we got in.”

“They would have responded by now. That’s not like them.” 

“Look, it was my idea to send them to Texas, so we could go to Maine. I’ve got to make sure they’re okay. I’ll be back in a few days.” Sam stands up and folds up his computer, placing it in a bag of gear he already prepped. 

“Hey, you are not going by yourself.” Dean stands in front of him, blocking Sam’s path. “Something down there has taken out 3 hunters already, and you want to go without any back up?”

“Well, what else are we going to do? We can’t just leave Zoey here alone, and we can’t take her with us.”

“Um, I’m right here, guys. Besides, Benny told me to stick with you. I go where you go.”

Dean pauses considering this option. 

“You’re not seriously considering bringing her with us?” Sam say with disapproval.

“She’s been on Earth less than a week and you want to leave her alone.”

“We’re going on a hunt!” Sam protests.

“We hunted as kids.”

“Again, still here, know how to hunt.” Zoey says drawing the gazes of both brothers. Even though she has to crane her neck to look up at both of them, she meets their stares without backing down.

“Come with me.” Sam says. He leads them down to the shooting range, where they don protective eye wear and hearing protection. 

“Seriously, Sam. Not this again.” Dean chides.

Sam pulls out his gun and checks the clip. He empties three rounds into the chest. “Safety on, safety off. If you can hit the target, we will see about you coming with us.”

“This is ridiculous. Zoey, have you ever fired a gun before?” Dean asks.

She eyes the weapon on the counter, and picks it up, feeling its heft. “No.”

Dean looks at Sam, disapprovingly. “Okay, take a deep breath, line up your shot, prepare for the kick, and squeeze the trigger.”

Zoey pulls the trigger. The kick back is more than she expected and she completely misses the target. Sam gives an I-told-you-so look to Dean. “Alright…” Dean starts, planning on putting an end to this farce, when Zoey repositions herself and lets off 3 shots in a row. She puts the safety back on, places the gun down on the counter, and turns to leave.

“I’ll meet you in the car,” she calls over her shoulder.

The boys step forward and remove their glasses, in awe of what they are seeing. A perfect grouping of 3 shots to the head. Dean starts to laugh. “I like her.” He pats Sammy on the shoulder and heads out, still laughing.

………………………..

It’s midnight when they finally reach San Antonio. While they were on the road, Sam hacked into the credit card records for the aliases used by Chris and Joel, and located which motel they had checked into. He picks the lock to their room, while Dean and Zoey cover him. Inside, a duffle bag sits on the bed and another on the table with a few file folders. Dean looks into the duffle on the bed. It has clothes and a few weapons. He searches the rest of the room for Hex bags, but finds nothing. 

Sam opens a file folder and flips through the pages. “This is the information I sent to Chris and Joel.... And a police report for a missing person, Grayson Smith, dated 3 days ago.”

“We won’t be able to follow up with the local PD until morning,” Dean reasons. He sees Zoey stifle a yawn, obviously tired. She only slept a little in the car on the trip down. “Look, I’m still wired from the drive. You guys get some rest. I’ll take first watch.” 

…………………

Dean is sitting up at the table, drinking a beer, reading the files by the dim light of a small desk lamp. Sam is asleep in one bed, Zoey is sleeping on the other, over the covers, fully clothed, hand gripping her axe. Dean gets it. First Hell, then Purgatory…. She’s never been safe or able to let her guard down. She stirs, uneasy, having another nightmare. She startles awake, axe ready. Dean eyes her from the table. “Bad dream?”

She stares at him for a moment. “Is there any other kind?” 

Something in her voice tugs at him. Maybe it was the lack of sarcasm. “Want to talk about it?” Great, now he sounds like Sam.

Zoey rubs her face and runs a hand through her messy hair. “What time is it?” She asks, changing the subject. 

“1:30. You were only out for an hour.” She sighs and looks away. Avoiding eye contact or lost in thought, Dean can’t tell which. “Can I ask you something,” he asks gently. 

“Sure.”

“Exactly how long were you in Purgatory?”

She pauses to think, “Only six years.”

“ONLY six! 

“What?”

“What?” Dean scoffs. “That’s a long time to go without sleeping.”

“Yeah, well, kind of missing that aspect of Purgatory right now.”

“You’ll adjust and get used to sleeping again.”

“Sleeping isn’t the problem. Dreaming is.”

Well, didn’t that hit the nail on the head. “Look, you need to rest. You’re exhausted.... Don’t worry, I’ll keep watch.” She lays down again and tries to sleep. Dean tries not to feel too much like a hypocrite, knowing full well that he is avoiding his own nightmares.

…………………….

Dressed in their suits, Sam and Dean enter the police station and walk to the front desk. They show their FBI badges to the officer at the desk. 

“Agents Page and Plant. We need to speak with Sheriff Conners.”

“More Feds, you guys having a convention?” The officer responds with a little snark. The brothers just stare at the officer. “Wait here, please,” he says sheepishly as he jumps up from the desk to inform the Sheriff. 

Sam turns to Dean. “You’re sure Zoey will be ok alone in the car?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s listening to the radio.”

The Sheriff and the Officer return. “Agents, right this way,” the Sheriff greets them. They follow him back to his office. “How can I help you, gentlemen?” he asks, closing the door behind them, while the boys take a seat.

Sam starts, “Sheriff, we are actually here regarding our colleagues.”

“Yes, yes. Agents Maxwell and Johnson. They were in here earlier this week regarding a missing persons case in China Town.”

Dean continues, “They failed to check in back at the home office, and efforts to reach them have been... unsuccessful.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea.” The Sheriff responds with concern. “What can I do to help? I can put an APB out on them right now, whatever your need.” He starts reaching for his phone to call for assistance. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Sam quickly states, trying to alleviate the Sheriff’s concern. “We would rather keep a low profile given the sensitivity of the case they were working on. We really would just like to know the details of your discussion with them.”

“You mean the Grayson Smith case?” The Sheriff states with confusion. “While unfortunate, I don’t see what is so sensitive about a drunk frat boy that went missing after a bender.”

“He’s a person of interest to the Bureau,” Sam continues.

“Regarding what, exactly?”

“We are not at liberty to say.” Dean says with finality, trying to put a close to the Sheriff’s questions. 

…………………..

The Impala pulls up to the curb outside a Chinese restaurant. The street is busy with pedestrians but traffic is light. There are several groups and couples waiting outside for seating at the busy restaurant. Sam and Dean are still dressed as FBI. Zoey is in the back seat. 

“Four of the vics from 12 years ago all ate at this restaurant within 24 hours of going missing.” Sam informs them, pouring over some of the extra files they picked up from the Sheriff. “So did Grayson Smith before he went missing 4 days ago.”

A Chinese man approaches the car and knocks on the window, Dean rolls it down. “Nǐ bùnéng zài zhèlǐ tíngchē. Yóuxíng jíjiāng tōngguò.

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak Chinese,” Dean apologizes.

“He says you can’t park here. The parade is about to pass,” Zoey pipes up. 

“Yǒu hòumiàn de tíngchē chǎng.”

“He says there is parking around the back,” she continues to translate. “Xièxiè nǐ, xiānshēng,” she says to the man through the window with a slight bow of her head, the man bows back and moves back into the crowd.

Dean turns around in his seat to face Zoey. “You speak Chinese?”

She just shrugs and gives a little innocent smile. Dean looks at Sam, a mischevious twinkle in his eye. 

“No,” Sam protests. 

“Yes,” Dean fires back.

“No!”

“Yes!”

They both turn to look at Zoey. “What?”

……………………….

Sam and Dean enter the busy restaurant, pushing past animated tourists and dinner goers, with Zoey in tow. They show their badges to the hostess. “We would like to speak with the owner.” Sam informs her. She leaves her post, and the line of customers waiting in the foyer.

“Just keep your ears peeled for any useful information. Especially any gossip from the staff,” Dean whispers to Zoey. 

The hostess returns, “Ms. Zhang will see you now.” She leads them back passed the kitchen to an office, where a man in a suit stationed outside opens the door and ushers them in. An attractive Chinese woman sits on the edge of a desk, drink in her hand. She is in her late forties, wearing a stunning key hole red satin dress that hugs her curves and teases with a peak of cleavage, red stilettos, hair pulled back in a tight bun secured with Ruby and Onyx encrusted hair sticks. She greets the agents, “Gentlemen, I am Ms. Zhang, owner of the Mandarin Sun.”

Dean is obviously pleased, the sight making him forget about Cas momentarily as he takes in her shapely form, so when he fails to speak up immediately, Sam scowls and breaks the silence. 

“Ms. Zhang, thank you for meeting with us on such short notice. I’m Agent Page and this is my partner, Agent Plant.”

“And who might this be,” she says, eyeing Zoey.

“Oh, this is Zoey, it’s take your daughter to work day at the Bureau.” Dean covers. Zoey practically chokes when Dean says the word daughter as he claps a fatherly hand on her shoulder. She regains her composure and smiles at the woman. 

“Yes,” Zhang says, taking in the interaction. “How may I help you, agents?”

“We wanted to talk to you about Grayson Smith, he went missing after visiting your establishment earlier this week.” 

“I already spoke with the other agents about this.”

“We are just checking again, you know, for consistency.” Sam says trying to save their cover story.

The woman sighs and repeats the story which obviously is boring to her. “He was here, had a few drinks from the bar according to his receipt, paid his tab and left during the parade.” She turns to one of the men at the door. “Dayìn chū nàgè zuìjiu de xiōngdì huì nánhái de lìng yī zhāng shōujù.” Print out another receipt for that drunken frat boy  
“Bìng wèi wömen de tèshū kèrén zhünbèi yīxië chūnjuän.” And get some spring rolls for our ‘special’ guests. 

“My apologizes. As you can see, this is our busiest time of the year.” 

“Yes, Chinese New Year. Year of the Snake.” 

“You know your Zodiac.” Zhang eyes Dean like she wants to eat him up.

“Unfortunately,” Sam presses, “this is not the first time people have gone missing during the celebrations.”

The cougar shifts her eyes to Sam with a calculating look before giving him a soft smile. “The Spring Festival in San Antonio is one of the largest in the United States. Many come in search of a good time. Sadly, some revelers lack judgement when it comes to celebration and inebriation. I would imagine there are similar reports for many festivals, like Mardi Gras, no?

“Yes,” Dean concedes, “but the number of missing persons reported during the Year of the Snake, are more than all the other years combined. Several were later found, their bodies mutilated.”

“I do not know what to say agents, except that the Snake is unscrupulous. It is possible that this attracts a bad element to what should otherwise be a time of joy.” 

“Several victims had dined here prior to going missing,” Sam continues.

“We are the most popular restaurant, right in the heart of Chinatown, the center of the festival. This time of year, everyone passes through our doors.” A waiter enters the office with a neatly wrapped bag on a tray. “I wish I could be of more help to your investigation, agents. Here is another copy of Mr. Smith’s receipt. Please, accept these Spring rolls, on the House. But now, I must get back to our guests.” Zhang walks past them, and out of the office, eyeing Dean as she leaves. He cranes his neck to watch her ass as she makes her way out to the tables, greeting the patrons. Zoey follows his gaze and then looks back at Dean, tilting her head a little with a quizzical look on her face. Sam clears his throat, bringing Dean back from his visual field trip. 

“What?”

“Come on,” he chides his older brother. 

…………………

Outside the restaurant, the parade is now in full swing, dragon dancers entertaining the crowd lining the side walk.

“This place is like a Chinese Mardi Gras.” Dean takes a bite of a spring role before offering the bag to Zoey who grabs one as well. “A lot can happen in a crowd like this at night.”

“I think something was off with the Mandarin Sun,” Sam says, declining the third roll. “It looked to be run more like a casino than a restaurant.”

“Given the crowds, extra security isn’t unwarranted. And it is completely possible they have an underground casino in the back.” Dean pulls out the third spring roll and splits it with Zoey. “Did you overhear anything while we were in there?”

“Nothing about missing persons, but brain and liver were both on the menu. One of the chefs is secretly sleeping with two of the waitresses, and Zhang called Grayson a drunken frat boy…. Also, what is a Happy Ending?” Zoey asks point blank, causing Dean to choke on the bite in his mouth. “There was a section at the end of the menu that was only in Chinese with no prices.”

“So maybe a brothel instead of a casino,” Sam remarks. “If the restaurant is not connected, then maybe something else at the festival is? We still have a case here. Brains and livers just don’t disappear on their own.”

Some firecrackers go off in the street right next to them. Zoey turns around to face the noise drawing her knife, but Sam quickly pulls her arm behind her back disarming her. “It’s just firecrackers. Part of the celebration.” He hands her back the knife. Zoey looks confused for a moment, staring at her blade being offered back to her.

“No one’s disarmed me in a while. Nice move.” She sheaths the knife and lets out a large yawn, causing Dean to yawn as well.

“Why don’t we gear up and check out the parade, I can’t wait to get out of this suit.” Dean states, tossing the empty take out bag into a trash can.

…………………….

The parking lot behind the restaurant is quiet and poorly lit, an old cemetery lies across the street, the graves marked with headstones and outlined with rectangular stone boarders. Sam adjusts his flannel and coat while Dean closes the trunk. “Hey, Zoey. You ready?” There is no answer. Sam heads over to the passenger seat. The girl is leaning against the door, out cold. “She’s asleep, Dean.”

“Great, now she sleeps. You know, I don’t think she has slept more than an hour straight since Maine.”

“Zoey, hey, wake up.”

“Careful, Sammy. Last time I woke her up she nearly took my head off with that axe.”

Sam notices the axe has slipped from her grasp and has fallen to the floor. He tentatively reaches in through the open window and gives her a little shake. “Zoey. Zoey?” She slumps forward. Sam tears open the door and reaches in to help her. “Dean, somethings wrong, I can’t wake her up!”

Dean makes to rush over, but the world starts spinning. He grabs onto the side of the car to keep from falling over. “Sammy…” Deans voice is quiet. “I don’t… feel right…” His vision starts to blur.

“Dean!” Sam sees his brother sink down to the ground. He starts to get up to help when the car door slams into him hard, knocking him out cold. 

“Sam…” Dean weakly mutters. A pair of black dress shoes and a pair of red stilettos approach before his vision fades to black.

…………………….

Cold. Sam is cold… and his head hurts. Cold, head hurts, can’t move. He feels ropes binding his hands and his feet. He pries open his eyes and things slowly start to come into focus. The face of a dead pigs looks back at him. Startled, Sam tries to scoot back, but ends up swinging slowly back and forth. He looks around and realizes he is in an industrial meat freezer, hanging upside down. A meat hook through the ropes around his ankles attaches him to a rail system on the ceiling. On his right are Dean and Zoey, both unconscious, in a similar predicament. On his left are the gutted corpses of Chris and Joel, giant bite marks through their skulls, brains missing. 

“Dean! Dean! Zoey!” 

Zoey doesn’t stir, but a groan escapes Dean mouth. “Wha…?" 

“We found them,” Sam’s voice is flat.

Dean’s fuzziness is replaced by confusion as he starts to take in their surroundings, but he sobers up quickly when he catches a glimpse of the mutilated corpses on the other side of Sam. “Son of a bitch!”

“Can you get free?”

“No, my ropes are too tight. You?”

“Same. How is Zoey? I can’t get a good look at her.”

“Out cold.”

Behind them they hear the sound of the freezer door being unlocked, foot steps make their way across the tiled floor and Dean is greeted by the black dress shoes and red stilettos he saw before everything went black. Ms. Zhang and her guard stand before them. 

“Ahh… I see you are waking up.” 

“What the hell is going on here?” Dean demands.

Zhang walks over to Zoey and grabs her by the hair, yanking her head roughly.

“What did you do to her?”

“She is small and still sleeps from the potion slipped into the spring rolls. If she is lucky she will sleep through the pain of feeling her liver being torn from her body.” Zhang drops Zoey’s head and gives her a shove, sliding her down the rail a few feet so she has more room to stand next to Dean. She caresses his chest with perfectly manicured red nails as he rolls his eyes. “Grandfather likes to start with the liver.”

“Your grandfather?” asks Sam incredulously.

“Yes, he is FangLiang, a graveyard spirit, and the protector of our family. Every 12 years during the Year of the Snake we feed him, and in return he favors our family with wealth.” She walks her fingers up the buttons of Dean’s shirt, teasingly. “A thriving business in the restaurant industry is not easy to come by in this economy.”

“So you murder people, for profit.” Sam replies.

“When I get out of here…” Dean starts but Zhang kneels down in front of him, hand on the back of his neck.

“Hunters have tried to stop us before, and they were dispatched,” she waves her other hand towards the corpses, “just like you will be.” She lets out a dramatic sigh. “This is truly a shame. All those stories about the Winchesters. I would have liked to have had some fun with you first.” She kisses Dean on the lips, before rising and heading towards the door with her guard in tow. “Why don’t you... hang around. The festivities are only just getting started,” she calls back over her shoulder, then shuts and bolts the freezer door.

“Gross,” Zoey says in disgust, after their foot steps fade away.

“Zoey?! How long have you been awake?” Dean says with a little embarrassment.

“Long enough to learn how to use a dress as a weapon.”

Sam glares at Dean. 

“Don’t worry, I got this,” she says calmly.

“Got what?” Dean asks as Zoey reaches up into a pike position to grab the curve of the meat hook with her bound hands. She lifts her legs up higher, slipping the ropes binding her ankles over the edge of the hook, then swings down before letting go and dropping to the floor. She awkwardly zips down her hoodie with her teeth and bound hands, then grabs a small blade hidden in her bra to cut her ropes. 

Dean is watching in stunned silence, when Sam whispers to him, “Is it me, or is it getting colder in here?” Their breath starts to form larger clouds in the air.

“Zoey, hurry up,” Dean calls over to her. She finishes cutting through the ropes and stands up just in time to be thrown across the freezer into several wooden crates of frozen meat. “Zoey!” the boys call out, struggling with their ropes. The FangLiang appears, a wispy spirit with a giant mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Zoey tries to free herself from the jumble of boxes and steaks when it rushes her, opening its mouth incredibly wide. Her hand feels the bite of frozen metal and she pulls a meat hook out from the pile of debris, swinging it in front of her, dissipating the spirit momentarily.

“Quick, it’ll be back!” Dean yells.

Zoey runs over to Dean, slicing open the ropes binding his hands and shoves the meat hook into his fist. “Sorry about this,” she says before placing the knife in her mouth and jumping onto him to climb up his legs and cut him down. The FangLiang appears again, between the two boys but Dean swipes the meat hook through it once again. Next thing he knows he’s falling for the floor and barely has time to shield his head with his arms. He glares up to Zoey hanging from his hook on the rail, but she is already reaching over to cut Sam’s legs free. Dean Scrambles up to catches his brother and guides him down with a more graceful landing. Zoey drops down again to cut Sam’s hands free.

“You guys ok?”

“Yeah, thanks to you.” Sam says while Dean stands guard. Once Sam’s hands are free Dean passes them both meat hooks. They head to the freezer door and look out the window to see a set of stairs leading up. They must be in the basement. Dean tries the latch but it’s locked from the outside.

“Stand back and cover me.” Dean proceeds to wail on the glass with the meat hook. After several hits he breaks through the double layered glass and clears away any remaining pieces with the hook. He tries to open the latch on the outside of the door. “Sam, I can’t reach it!” They trade places. Sam can only touch the latch with his finger tips, but not enough to pull it open. He shakes his head at Dean. “What do you mean you can’t reach it! You’re gigantic!”

“Give me a boost,” Zoey orders, taking off her jacket and hoodie, leaving her in just her sports bra and tank. Sam holds his hands out to make a platform and Zoey steps up to grab the top of the door frame. She jumps up and gracefully swings her body out the window feet first. Twisting in the air, she lands in a crouch on the floor, where she is greeted by a pair of black dress shoes staring her in the face. She looks up at the guard, giving him an innocent smile. He makes to kick her but she blocks his leg with both arms and slashes the inside of his thigh with the knife. The guard stumbles off balance and falls to the ground as he grabs the bleeding wound on his leg. He reaches for his gun with his other hand, but Zoey kicks it out of his grasp before he can take a shot; however, he catches her leg and pulls her down with him. 

“Zoey!…Zoey?” Sam calls out first with alarm, then in disbelief as she elbows the guard in the groin, rolls away while he grabs himself in pain, and then kicks him in the head, knocking him out.

“Sam!” Dean shouts, as he is thrown across the freezer. Of course the FangLiang picks this moment to attack. Sam runs towards Dean swinging the meat hook through the spirit, causing it to dissipate. He extends his hand to his older brother, helping him up, when suddenly Dean shouts for him to duck. The older Winchester swings over his little brother and through the spirit that had reappears behind him. 

“Come on, guys!” Zoey calls from the now open freezer door, the bleeding guard unconscious at her feet. They rush out and head up the stairs that lead to the back of the kitchen. Racks of trays obscure the door from the majority of the chefs. 

“Nice work back there, Spiderman,” Dean claps Zoey on the back, handing her her jacket and hoodie.

She tilts her head just a little and narrows her eyes at him. “Who’s Spiderman?” she questions, not understanding the reference. Dean is suddenly reminded of Cas.

“What kind of ghost eats brains and livers?” Sam asks, bringing them back on task.

“I’m guessing the Ancient Chinese kind.” Zoey replies, putting her jacket back on.

“What do you think the chances are that Grandpa Zhang is buried in the cemetery out back?” Sam asks Dean. 

“I’d say they’re pretty good. Ok. We sneak out the back door of the kitchen, grab the shovels from Baby, and head for the cemetery to salt and burn this jackass.” Just then the guard at the bottom of the stairs lets out a gurgled scream as the FangLiang tears into him. “That is not going to buy us a lot of time. Come, on.” 

…………………….

Thankfully, they are able to escape the restaurant without any of the kitchen staff seeing them. They grab flashlights, lighter fluid, salt, and shovels from Baby, then make their way across the street to the Cemetery.

“They’re all in Chinese! How are we going to find the right one?” Dean exclaims, aiming his flashlight at the different tombstones.

“Over here.” Zoey calls out. “It’s the correct last name and he died a year before the first killings. All the other graves are too old or too young by more than 12 years.”

The boys start to dig, while Zoey lays down a circle of salt around the grave. She’s finishes right before the FangLiang appears outside the circle, face to face with her. The blood of the guard is dripping off its many teeth. She can even see a pieces of his scalp caught between two of them. She calmly backs up. “Guys? You’re almost done, right? Grandpa is not happy.”

Sam hits the coffin with the shovel and quickly removes the remaining dirt from the lid so he can pry it open. Dean pours the lighter fluid as Zoey shakes more salt onto the grave, while grandpa snarls and growls at them. Dean drops a lighter into the grave and the spirit burns away with a final cry. Ms. Zhang comes running out of the back of the restaurant, towards the cemetery screaming. “Tā mā de húndàn lièrén!”

“What did she call us?” Dean calmly asks Zoey.

“You don’t want to know.”


	2. Fear Not

Dean walks into the Library, nursing a cup of coffee after another sleepless night, to find Sam and Zoey are already engrossed in research. Over the last week, they had spent their days pouring through the archives, but the problem was, they didn’t really know what they were looking for. Zoey didn’t know why the Demons were after her, and that left them little to go on. 

Sam is surrounded by tech. Scrolling through a website on his computer, with his tablet on one side and and his phone on the other. Meanwhile Zoey is working her way through a stack of dusty old books. Squinting a little harder, he realizes none of them are in English. Her current selection looks like… Old Norse, maybe? He fails to stifle a giant yawn.

“Dude, you okay?” Sam is staring at him with a concerned look. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“Okaaaay,” he says without conviction. “Anyway, I think I found a case. So get this. In the last week, two bodies have been found in the forest near Caledonia, Minnesota. The insides were liquified and there were blue discolorations on the skin of each victim. Sound familiar?”

“That sounds like those Djinn that feed on fear. They made the bodies go all gooey inside, leaving a blue handprint.”

“The article blames the recent freeze and thaw for the state of the bodies.”

“Well, that’s a load of crap.” 

“I was thinking the same thing. We should go check it out.”

“I’ll grab some more African dream root just in case.”

“Why not just use the antidote?” Zoey suggests.

The boys exchange a look before Dean speaks. “The last time we dealt with this type of Djinn, the antidote didn’t work.”

“Were you using the right one? Each Djinn has its own type of antidote.”

“Told you so!” Dean smirks, slapping Sammy in the shoulder with the back of his hand. 

“What do you mean, each Djinn? How many types are there?” Sam asks.

“Four. You know, happy, sad, fear and anger. What color is your antidote?

“White,” Sam replies.

“White is for happy Djinn. Black is for fear. You guys have supplies?”

“You know how to make it?!” 

…………………….

The trio is down in the stock room, surrounded by bowls of herbs and tinctures. Zoey is adding the last few ingredients to a beaker of liquid boiling on a hot plate. The liquid turns pitch black, but still gives off a faint purple glow. 

“Most of the ingredients are the same, but there are a few differences for each type. Nightmares are still dreams, just bad ones.” 

Sam gives Dean a quick glance, and Dean just rolls his eyes back at him.

“Where did you learn all this? The original antidote we have is from an old Campbell family recipe,” Dean asks. 

“I read it in a book.”

“Yeah? And what language was that in?” he continues a little sarcastically. 

Zoey thinks for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip. “Phoenician. There’s a huge section in Hell’s Library about poisons. Mostly how to make, torture, and kill with them. But a few of the texts have information on antidotes.”

“And you memorized this particular antidote?” Sam asks.

“I memorized the whole damn section.”

“Alright, as soon as this cools enough to draw up into the syringes, we hit the road.” Dean announces. “And you,” he points at Zoey, tossing her a note pad and pen, “write up those other antidotes so we can share them with the rest of the Hunter community.”

…………………

The examination room at the morgue is cold. Dr. Stephens, the coroner, ambles over to the freezers with the aid of a cane. He opens two of the doors and the brothers help him slide out the tables. Each one holds a body bag and a tub of sloshy liquid. “Here they are, Agents. The weirdest corpses to ever pass through this place. Honestly, I can’t make heads or tails of this one,” he admits in a gruff voice, shaking his head.

“The paper stated the cause of death was hypothermia.” Sam says while Dean gives one of the tubs a little shove, sloshing the liquid inside. Sam glares at Dean who sheepishly holds up his hands, backing off.

“Just reporters jumping the gun. This time of year, we always get a few deaths due to hypothermia, but none of them look like this. Honestly, I have no clue what the cause of death was. Hard to examine a body when everything inside is liquefied. Samples from the lab aren’t back yet. But it’s like the internal organs were rendered down, by heat. Maybe you boys can tell me how that happened in the middle of the winter.”

………………….

Zoey is sitting in the front passenger seat of Baby, listening to the radio, looking out the window. To the pedestrians passing by, she might look like any other board teenager. The ebb and flow of people making their way along Main Street has been fairly steady, when something catches her eye. She squints into the side view mirror, to get a better look at the man standing still on the corner behind her. The light for the cross walk changed, but he stayed still, unlike the others who are already moving on to their destinations. His head is turned towards the Impala, eyes dark. 

Zoey reaches forward and opens the glove box. After a few seconds of riffling between cassette tapes, she finds what she’s looking for and steps out of the car. Making a show of arching her back and rubbing her neck, she shuts the door and heads down the street. Glancing behind her at the reflexions in a store window, she catches sight of him. The man continues to follow as she heads away from the hustle and bustle on Main.

……………….

Dean questions the Coroner further. “So then, you don’t think the damage to the body was caused by the freeze-thaw cycles in the weather?”

“I’ve been a Coroner for almost 40 years. Never had the insides of a corpse melt on me before. Not even that one time the freezers broke in the summer of ‘92. Hell of a stench.”

Dean’s cell rings and Zoey’s name pops up on the screen. He excuses himself, walking over to the other end of the room while Sam continues to interview the coroner, “You said there were blue marks on the body?”....

“Zoey?” Dean whispers.

“Dean! Great, this thing works.”

“What’s wrong, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but I need your help. I’m in an alley a few blocks down. Met a friend from back home.”

“You what?! Why did you leave the car?!” He pinches the bridge of his nose and then lets out a sigh. “Just wait for us. We’ll be right there.” Dean hangs up and interrupts Sam and the Coroner. “Sorry to cut this short, but we have a… situation developing.” He gives Sam a knowing look and heads out. 

Sam makes his apologies to the Coroner as he backs out of the room. “Thank you for your time, Dr. Stephens. We’ll get back to you about ... this,” he says as he waves his hand towards the buckets of liquid corpse. Turning around, he practically has to run down the hall to catch up with Dean.

“We gotta move.” Dean says when his brother is back at his side. They bust out of the building and see Baby, empty. “She said she was in an ally a few blocks down. Come on.”

They pause at the first alley they come to, exchange glances, and head in, drawing their weapons. Sam pulls out his gun and Dean pulls out an Angel blade. Eventually they come around a dumpster, to see Zoey, axe out, guarding a black-eyed Demon kneeling in front of her with a knife in its back. 

“Zoey? You alright?” Dean asks, confused at the stand off.

“Hey, guys,” she replies calmly.

“Why aren’t you fighting, or smoking out?” Sam asks the Demon, leveling his gun at it.

“Ask the bitch.”

Dean grabs the Demon by the hair and puts the Angel blade against his throat. “If I were you I’d watch the language.”

Zoey holds up the sharpie she swiped from the glove box. “Devil’s trap on the blade. Let’s try this again, why are you following me?”

The Demon says nothing, so Dean gives him a shake. “Answer her.”

“Just following orders.”

“Yeah? Whose?” he demands. Again, the Demon doesn’t answer, so Dean digs the point of the blade in a little deeper. 

“Go ahead, kill me, Khaa will only resurrect me in the end.”

The three hunters look at each other. No one recognizes the name. “Who’s Khaa?” Sam presses.

“Our salvation.” The Demon eyes each of them up in turn, settling a leering gaze on Zoey last. “I’ll see you again.” With a jolt, he thrusts his head forward, impaling his neck on the Angel blade, killing himself.

The three hunters stand there, stunned.

“Well, you don’t see that every day.” Dean finally comments, breaking the silence. He bends down and yanks Zoey’s blade out of the meat suit’s back, wiping it clean along with the Angel blade on its jacket. At the end of the knife blade is a perfectly drawn Devils trap in fine black sharpie. He admires the ingenuity before passing it back to Zoey, but it was still risky for her to take on the Demon alone. Rolling the body over he checks the pockets, finding a cell phone, and uses the corpse’s finger to unlock it. 

“Did he get any calls or texts out?” Sam asks.

“No, nothing in the last hour…. Okay, time to head home,” he says standing up, wiping his hands clean.

“What? Don’t we still have a Djinn to kill?” Zoey protests.

“Sam and I have a Djinn to kill, after we drop you off back at the Bunker.”

“And give the Djinn an extra day… to murder people?”

“A Demon just made you!”

“And it’s dead.” 

“There could be more!” 

“There’s always more.”

“Exactly! It’s too risky!”

“Like growing up in Hell wasn’t?! I know how to handle Demons, and hunt Monsters.” She’s craning her neck standing her ground against Dean even though he towers over her. She gestures at him with the Devil’s trap knife. “Besides, you know I’m right. That Djinn is already looking for another victim. You want to let it liquify another person while you drive me back to the Bunker?” 

“Sammy, back me up on this.”

Sam hesitates. 

Dean glares at him in disbelief. “Sam!”

“It could just be a coincidence.” Sam replies sheepishly, while Dean throws his hands up in defeat. “And he didn’t get a change to tell anyone before he… killed himself. So, Zoey’s location is still a secret.”

“Fine.” Dean spits out, turning on his heels and walking out of the alley.

“Dean, where are you going?” Sam calls after him.

“To get the car. We need to ditch this body on the way to the crime scene.” 

And with that he stalks off, leaving Sam and Zoey in the alley, behind a dumpster, standing over a dead guy. Silence settles around them again, until Sam hears Zoey mutter a curse under her breath. Her eyes are closed, and her shoulders sag. “Zoey? You okay?”

She lets out a huff. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Where has he heard that one before. “Look, don’t let Dean get to you. He just… he just want’s to keep you safe. Dean’s lost a lot of people in his life. We both have.”

She turns and finally looks up at him. A confused look on her face while she ponders his words. “I’ve never had anyone to lose before.”

……………………

Everyone is silent and tense during the drive out into the forest. Dean realizes he may have gone a little too far over the line. Zoey is obviously very skilled and capable, better than they ever were at her age, and he doesn’t mind her hunting with them. She actually saved their asses down in Texas. But this Demon business is not normal. That Demon willingly impaled himself on an Angel blade fully confident that he would be coming back. Resurrected by who ever or whatever this Khaa is. Looking in the rear view mirror, he sees Zoey staring out the window. What could they possibly want with this girl? What is so special about her that Demons from Hell are chasing her across multiple planes of existence? 

They stop a few miles south of the Djinn attack sites to deal with the corpse in the trunk. In a secluded field, they work quickly, albeit quietly, to dig a grave. For good measure, they even salt and burn the body. (It’s cold and they needed to warm their hands anyway). With the body below ground, Dean’s mood seems to lighten. Out of sight, out of mind.

……………………

“Take the next left,” Sam instructs while studying a map. “It’s the access road that leads to some hunting blinds and a few cabins where the bodies were found.” 

A minute later, a dirt road appears on the left and Dean turns off the main route. Deep ruts in the road, make it easy to follow. He pulls over at the first ‘cabin.’ It’s more of a shelter, really. A place where hunters or campers could seek refuge from the elements. There is a fire pit just outside with some old beer cans scattered around. Police tape makes a flimsy barrier across the only door, made of roughly hewn slats that don’t even reach all the way to the ground. 

Sam glances at the police report. “The first victim, Gary Mercer, was found inside. He’s the owner of the place. The second was a friend, Alan Portsmith. He came out here looking for Gary after he didn’t show up for work on Monday. Apparently Gary likes to come out here to drink and get stoned. Alan’s body was found down the trail near the outhouse.”

“Let’s start inside,” Dean suggests.

There are no signs of forced entry on the door, but the basic latch didn’t even have a lock. They duck under the police tape and enter. The place is small with only 1 window opposite the door. A shelf lines the left hand wall, with a box of matches, a few lanterns, and an old transistor radio. A rickety table and chair are on the right. A matching chair is overturned next to a stain on the floor boards from liquified human remains. They head out back and find another area roped off with more police tape attached to stakes in the ground. The leaves inside are similarly stained.

“We should work our way out, see if we can pick up a trail,” Sam says. “Everybody packing?” Dean and Zoey raise their silver knives dipped in lambs blood in response. “Stick close to each other, these things can move fast.” 

They fan out, but remain within eyesight of one another. About half a mile down are the remains of another shelter. This one looks like it burned down several seasons ago. Sam heads up one side while Zoey takes the other. Dean works his way a little closer to Zoey. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I…” She trails off, tilting her head to the side and squinting at something behind him. Dean turns but doesn’t see anything. Zoey walks past him over to a bush, inspecting the branches on one side and the leaves piled underneath.

“What is it?”

“Someone has been here recently.” She picks at one of several broken leaves that are still hanging on to the branches, before tossing it down to join its other half with the leaves that litter the forrest floor. The opposite side of the bush has no broken leaves and the ground there is clear. 

Dean draws his knife and looks out into the woods. “Go get Sam.” Zoey heads back to the other side of the burned out shack, while Dean steps deeper into the woods.

“DEAN!” Zoey’s shouts. 

He rushes back, up towards the shack, to see Sam laying on the ground between Zoey and the Djinn. The monster turns its head upon Dean's approach, eyes glowing blue as it hisses. Zoey lunges with her knife but the monster spins, kicking her into the remnants of the shack, charred boards breaking and falling down around her. Dean charges and tackles it to the ground, but the Djinn just rolls with the momentum, flipping Dean over onto his back. Dean’s left arm is pinned down under the thing’s knee, while he tries to stab it with the knife in his right. But the Djinn grabs his arm with both hands and twists so the knife is pointing back at his own chest. The Djinn forces his weight down on Deans arm, while Dean fights to keep the blade from sinking in. They are evenly matched in strength, but slowly, the Djinn starts to slide his hand to the edge of Dean’s sleeve, where his bare hands remain vulnerable. “No!” Dean shouts. Flaring blue eyes are the last thing he sees before the ground opens up beneath him, swallowing him into the Pit.

Zoey untangles herself from the debris of the shack, and stands up to get her bearings just in time for the Djinn to grab her from behind. Instinctively, her body reacts, dropping to one knee and throwing the Djinn over her shoulder. The monster gains its footing and they square off against each other. The Djinn dives for her again, knocking her back down onto the pile of broken wood, and grabs her around the neck with both hands. It hisses, eyes flaring blue, when suddenly everything stops. The blue eyes start to fade as blood drips out from the monster’s mouth, onto Zoey’s face.

She pushes the body off of her, and calmly wipes the monster’s blood off of her cheek with her sleeve. The Djinn is dead, the knife dipped in Lamb’s blood is still sticking out of its heart. Zoey sits up and scrambles out of the ruins of the shack over to Sam and Dean. A blue hand print marks the side of Sam’s face and another marks Dean’s wrist. 

“Sam! Dean!” She feels Dean’s forehead, he already feels warm to the touch. She rifles through his pockets and finds the keys to the Impala. Zoey runs the half mile back to the car, and catches sight of her reflection in the window. She pauses just long enough to pull down the collar of her shirt, no blue marks. She opens the trunk and the secret compartment, grabs the leather case with the Djinn antidotes, and runs back to the boys. Catching her breath, she unzips the case and pulls out a syringe. Raising Sam’s sleeve, she injects the dark liquid into his arm. She rushes over to Dean and repeats the process.

“Come on, guys, wake up,” she whispers to herself, but nothing happens. The only sound is the wind rustling the leaves on the trees. “Dean?” Her voice falters ever so slightly. She reaches out gently touching his shoulder, when he suddenly wakes up, lashing out at imaginary foes. Zoey narrowly blocks a wild punch to avoid getting hit in the face. 

“Dean! Dean! Calm down! It’s okay, it’s over.”

“Wha-?” He is completely disoriented.

“The Djinn got you and Sam.” 

He looks around and spots the dead Djinn. Awareness starts to flood back into him. “Sam?” Sam starts to groan. Dean turns and crawls over to him. “Sammy!” Sam is curled into a fetal position, rubbing his palm. “Sam, wake up, it’s not real, the Djinn poisoned you, it wasn’t real.”

“Dean?” Sam is still having trouble grasping reality.

“It’s ok, Sammy, it was just a nightmare. Zoey gave us the antidote.”

Sam slowly starts to put everything together and lets out a sigh of relief.

“You guys okay, now?”

“Yeah,” Dean answers. “How about you?”

“I … I’m fine.”

“I’m fine never means I’m fine.” Dean states accusingly.

“I mean, it almost got me, but really, I’m fine.”

“What do you mean by almost?”

“It’s eyes flared blue for a second as I killed it, but nothing happened. See, no blue marks.” She pulls down the collar of her shirt allowing Dean to inspect her neck. “Come on, let’s go.” She holds out a hand to help Dean up, and then they both help Sam get to his feet. “Catch.” Zoey throws the keys for the Impala back to Dean. 

……………………

The three of them are driving home, Baby’s engine letting out a throaty purr. Sam looks back at Zoey. “Hey, that was good work with the Djinn and the antidote back there.” He finally looks better, having spent the first hour of the drive in silence, still spooked by whatever nightmare he was thrust into.

“Yeah, you saved our asses. Again.” Dean smiles at her through the rear view mirror. 

Zoey meets his gaze, and the corners of her mouth turn up in a small smile of her own. She doesn’t want to be mad at him any more because of their argument from earlier in the day. Hopefully, things can just get back to normal, she thinks to herself, when Dean’s eye flash black before he looks back at the road.

“Anyway, thanks,” Sam continues. His eyes turn black too. 

What the hell happened to them?! It was just a Djinn, it can’t turn them into Demons. She pauses, trying to cover her shock. “Yeah, don’t mention it.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Sam’s eyes are back to normal, and he is giving her a concerned look.

“Uh-hu, I’m fine.”

Sam turns to face forward again. Zoey quietly draws an Angel blade out from inside her coat. Dean insisted she carry it after the Demon in the ally. When it is firmly in her grasp, she springs forward, pulling Sam’s head back and holding the blade to his neck, reciting the exorcism ritual. 

"What the hell are you doing!” Dean shouts as he slams on the brakes. The car comes to a quick stop. Zoey loses her hold on Sam, and is thrown back into the seat. She bails out the back door and runs off into the woods. 

“You okay?” Dean shouts at Sam.

Sam pulls a hand away from his neck, there is no blood. “I don’t think she’s fine, Dean.”

“No kidding. Grab the antidote.” Dean gets out and runs off into the woods after Zoey. He comes to a clearing, and pauses, having lost her trail. Sam catches up. 

“Dean, she tried to exorcise me.”

“I know.”

“She thinks we’re Demons.”

“I know! Shhh.”

They listen, but only the sounds of the forest greet them.

“How are we going to find her?” Sam whispers.

They hear something on their left, then another noise behind them. 

“… I think she’s going to find us first.” Dean says, realizing they might be in trouble. This forest is not much different from the one in Purgatory.

A rock comes flying out of nowhere to hit Sam in the chest. He goes down hard. 

“Sam!” Dean calls out, but then looks back in the direction the rock came from, just in time to see Zoey coming in low for his legs with the Angel blade. Dean jumps out of the way, and tries to grab her, but she slips out of his reach. They face off against each other, when Dean notices a feint blue mark that is starting to appear on her neck.

“Zoey, we are not Demons! You were poisoned by the Djinn.” 

She presses the attack, and Dean dodges her strike, catching her hand and disarming the Angle Blade. Sam starts to wake up. He sees them fighting and fumbles for the syringe. Zoey reverses the arm lock Dean has her in, trapping his hand behind his back, and then kicks him in the knee, to take him down. With one giant arm, Sam grabs Zoey from behind, pulling her off of Dean, pinning both of her arms down. With the other, he brings the syringe to his mouth and pulls the cap off. Dean stands up and turns around to see Sam about to inject her in the neck, but before he can do so, she kicks out into Dean’s chest with both feet, using the force to knock Sam off balance. She arches her body and comes down hard, throwing Sam over her shoulder. He lands in a heap in front of her, dropping the syringe as he impacts the ground.

“No!” Sam yells as Zoey steps on the syringe, crushing it. She is standing over him when Dean appears behind her and hits her across the head with a large stick, breaking it in half. She goes down and stays down. 

The boys look at each other while they catch their breath. Dean tosses the broken branch aside and helps Sam up. Then he bends down to check on Zoey. She’s out cold, bleeding from a new gash on her forehead.

Sam picks up the broken syringe. “That was the last dose.” 

“We can make more back at the bunker. Come on, we’ve got to hurry.” 

Dean carries Zoey back to the Impala, and lays her down in the back seat. He starts disarming her, creating a pile of knives and blades. Apparently she was holding out on them. Had she really wanted to kill them back there, she could have.

Sam appears at the other back door with handcuffs. “Is that all of them?”

“God, I hope so.” Dean takes the cuffs from him, rolls Zoey over and secures her wrists behind her back.

Sam inspects her neck, the blue marks are becoming more apparent. “Why did it take this long for the Djinn’s poison to finally catch up with her?”

“I don’t know…. Maybe she didn’t get a full dose. She said she killed the Djinn as it tried to get her…. Also…. I don’t think Zoey’s afraid of much, maybe that’s why it took awhile.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Sam sighs.

“Why would she think we were Demons? She’s more annoyed by them than afraid.” 

“It’s us, Dean. She’s afraid of losing us.”

………………….

They were already on their way home when Zoey attacked them. Dean speeds as fast as he can and thankfully they don’t come across any state troopers as he finishes the trip in record time. Zoey remains unconscious for the whole drive, but the once feint marks on her neck are now solid and dark. Dean carries her into the Library as Sam runs to the store room to make more antidote. He places her in a chair and puts a hand to her forehead. She is burning up, sweaty, her breathing is shallow and rapid. “Just hang on a little longer, kiddo,” he says, squeezing her shoulder, before running off to the kitchen to get some ice.

Zoey opens her eyes slowly. Her vision is blurry, and everything is swimming in front of her. She tries to move her arms, but they are still cuffed behind her back. She fiddles with the underside of her belt, working at it with her fingernail, freeing a lock pick hidden in the leather. She gets to work on the cuffs. 

…………………

Dean grabs the hand towel draped next to the sink as he runs into the kitchen, pulls opens the freezer, and fills it with ice. He races back to the library and pauses when he sees the empty chair, open cuffs sitting in the seat where he left Zoey. Sam rushes up behind him, but is stopped when Dean holds up his hand, and then puts a finger to his lips, telling him to be quiet. Dean slowly enters the room, looking around the corners of the stacks, for signs of the girl. 

Zoey jumps out from behind one of the pillars and splashes Holy Water in Dean's face. He pauses to blink the water out of his eyes, and lets out a sigh. Zoey has a confused look on her face. Dean turns to her, eyes black, unaffected by her attack. “Zoey, we’re not…” Dean begins, but he is cut off when she throws the flask at his head, and takes him down with another kick to the same knee. She tries to run past him, but Sam cuts off her escape. She backs up deeper into the room until she hits the table. She looks back and forth between the brothers, a hint of panic in her eyes as she is cornered.

Sam puts his hands out in front of him, trying to calm her “Zoey, the Djinn’s poison affected you. None of what you’re seeing is real. Let us help you.” 

Dean pulls himself up to standing and approaches slowly. She is struggling to breath and shuts her eyes in fear as he reaches out to gently touch her shoulder. She flinches when he makes contact, but doesn’t pull away. Dean relaxes a little, “See, we’re not going to hurt…” But before he can finish, Zoey reaches with her other arm lighting fast to grab his wrist, twisting his arm and yanking his head into her waiting elbow, splitting his lip. 

Sam rushes forward, but she throws a stunned Dean into his path and she jumps onto the table, seeking higher ground against the tall hunters. The fight is on and Zoey is blocking and trading blows with the boys who have taken up positions on either side of the table. She grabs Sam under the chin, forcing his head up to get him off balance and then kneels forcefully to slam his head down onto the table. She quickly twists and stands to upper cut Dean. She turns back to Sam and kicks his head off the table, sending him sprawling to the ground. 

Having enough, Dean dives over the table, tackling Zoey, needing to put an end to this fight. “I’ve got her, Sam! Quick!” He pins her down with all of his weight. She is still trying to elbow him in the head, but he is too close for her to get in a solid hit. Sam catches her arm, and jabs her with the needle, injecting the black liquid. She pulls her arm free of Sam’s grasp, but Dean doesn’t dare release her, until she stops struggling. Once she is still, he finally lets go and rolls off of her. All three are on the floor, panting for breath, Zoey between the boys. Her eyes pop open and she scoots back until she hits a book case, startled as reality comes crashing back in. The boys flinch away from her. She looks back and forth between them. 

“Guys?”

………………………..

Sam, Dean, and Zoey are sitting in the Library. All three of them are holding ice packs to various cuts and bruises in silence. Dean takes a sip of his drink and winces when the alcohol hits his split lip. 

“Sorry.” Zoey says sheepishly.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Still….” She looks down, unable to maintain eye contact.

“Zoey, really, it’s ok.” Sam tries to reassure her. “You saved our lives back there.” 

She is quiet. Dean eyes her curiously. “Where did you learn to fight like that? And if you say the Library, I’m going to throw this ice at you.”

Zoey lets out a sigh. “Purgatory.... You get good fast, or you get dead faster.”

Sam and Dean look up at each other. Dean has an I told you so look on his face.


	3. Family Business

Zoey slams her book shut, drawing a glance from Dean. “Sorry,” she apologizes. She pushes the book away and pulls her feet up into the chair. Resting her arms on her knees, fiddling with a knife she pulled from somewhere. 

The action draws Dean’s attention away from the Men of Letters file he was reading. The past few weeks in which they had gotten to know Zoey, she has been generally calm and collected. A real asset on hunts. She knows her lore, and she knows how to fight. But now, she seems… anxious? He glances at the book she was reading, Ancient Greek. Kid also knows her languages. The pile of texts she made it through that morning also consisted of German, Latin, and Sumerian. Unfortunately they had failed to find anything on Khaa. Maybe all the research was getting to her. The two of them hadn’t left the Bunker at all in the last 4 days, not since Sam had gone to help another hunter having issues with a restless spirit. Come to think of it, that’s when Zoey started acting a bit off. Maybe it was just cabin fever, and Sam being off on a hunt while they were stuck in the Library was making it worse. However, her anxiety seemed to peak about an hour ago, after Sam texted to say the salt and burn was done and he’d be home late that night. Dean was kind of hoping Sam would be back in time to handle all of this emotional crap, but it was getting to the point where even he couldn’t take it anymore. And if he is being honest with himself, he’s got a bit of cabin fever too. He lets out a sigh and quietly closes his file. 

“Ok, what?”

Zoey’s green eyes dart over to meet his. She makes to start, but pulls back, a concerned frown on her face. “Can we get out of here?” she finally asks.

“And go where?” 

“I don’t know, anywhere!” She lets out a frustrated groan. “It’s just….” She looks around the room, taking it all in, nervously tapping the flat of her blade against her knee. “It’s just starting to feel a little like a weird version of Hell down here.”

“Yeah?”

“I mean, we’re stuck underground, we’ve been reading for weeks, we haven’t found anything useful, but there's nothing attacking us.” The words spill out of her.

“So you’re upset that something hasn’t tried to kill you?”

She gives him a bitch face to rival one of Sam’s. “I’m used to libraries with a little more danger.”

Yup, just a little cabin fever and itching for a hunt. This he can fix. Take that Sammy. Dean gives her a smile. “Grab your gear. I’ll send Sam a text not to wait up for us.”

……………………

Dean and Zoey are taking out a nest of vampires. Zoey decapitates two of them in rapid succession. What she lacks in brute strength she makes up for with precision and speed. Then she helps Dean with one of his two vamps. They end up fighting back to back as another set closes in on them. Their fighting compliments each other, and Dean is reminded of all the times he and Benny fought back to back in Purgatory. The Vamp taught her well. They finish off the last of their assailants and pause, looking at each other. Then Zoey throws a knife right past Dean’s head into the eye of a vamp sneaking up behind him. He turns and beheads it with his blade. With all of their assailants dead, the only sound is their heavy breathing.

“Man, you kick serious ass!” Dean huffs out, wiping blood off of his face with his sleeve, careful to not get any in his mouth.

“Thanks.” She kneels down to pull the knife out of the vamp’s head, wipes it on the body, and returns it to its sheath. She sits down on top of a picnic table, a contemplative look on her face. Her breath catches before she finally decides to speak. “Do...do you ever miss it?... Purgatory?”

Dean pauses before answering, “I used to.”

“Things are so different here. Monsters I get, people are crazy.”

“People are complex and flawed. It’s part of our charm,” he says with a smile. 

“Purgatory just made sense. I guess it was easier there,” she laments. 

“I wouldn’t say 360 degree combat 24-7 is easy.”

“You know what I mean.”

Dean sits down next to her on the picnic table. He understands what she was getting at. Purgatory is intense and savage, but pure. There are no secrets or lies, just survival. “So, do you really miss Purgatory, or do you just miss Benny?” When she doesn’t answer, he continues. “It’s ok to miss him, I do. He’s not like other Vampires,” he says gesturing at the massacre around them with his machete. 

Zoey’s voice is quiet and sad, when she finally answers. “He wouldn’t come with me.”

Dean sighs. “That doesn’t surprise me. Things didn’t go well for Benny the last time he was here. Don’t get me wrong, he tried. He really did. But there was no place for him here. He’s better off in Purgatory.”

“You know, Benny was the first ‘person’ I ever had a conversation with. Before I met him, I had been alone for ages.”

“So, what are you, 13 going on 30?” he jokes.

“More like 300,” she answers softly.

Dean gives a little chuckle, but Zoey stays lost in thought. She’s serious he realizes. Jesus, how long was she in Hell? He thought only the Pit amplified the amount of time spent down there. Maybe there were other areas where the passage of time was warped.

“So, what’s with all the Purgatory, talk? You feeling home sick?”

She doesn’t respond. Dean watches her nervously fidget with her axe. Now that the fight is over, the anxiety that had been eating at her previously has come flooding back in. Honestly, she looks even worse. “You know, you can stay with us as long as you like. Even after we deal with this whole Demon thing.”

Her hands still. “Why would…” she starts, meeting his gaze, but then turns away, biting her lip and blinking her eyes, fighting back… tears?

“What can I say, I like you, kiddo.” But, instead of being reassured or relieved, his words seem to cut into her. A tear falls down her cheek, as she takes a shaky breath. Damn it, Sam is so much better at this stuff. He lowers his voice. “Hey, I’m sorry if I said something that upset you…. I know it’s got to be rough, adjusting to Earth after growing up like you did. But if you need to talk about it… I mean… I’ve been to Hell and Purgatory, so if anyone has a chance of understanding….”

Zoey rolls her eyes and lets out a huff, just like Sam. “I don’t know how to do this.” She says it more to the night than to him.

“Do what?”

“…Us,” she says, looking up at him. She takes in a deep breath to steady herself and lets it out. “Dean, you’re my father.”

The words sit there between them, growing, until they really start to register with him. “What?” It came out a little more harshly than he meant to, but then again, he was completely taken by surprise. 

She closes her eyes, a look of pained regret on her face. “Just forget it,” she whispers, as she stands and starts walking away. 

“Zoey, wait!” Dean calls after her. She stops with her back to him as he catches up. He reaches out to grab her shoulder to turn her around, but thinks better of it when he sees the grip on her axe tighten. When he speaks again, he makes sure his voice is more gentle. “Why would you think that?”

She turns around, but still has her eyes cast down. “Because Benny told me,” she reluctantly admits.

“How the hell would Benny know?!” He can’t help it, but an exasperated tone sneaks back into his voice again.

Her face flushes with embarrassment. “‘Cause when I first met Benny he fed on me and he just knew.”

“Benny fed on you!... You just took out over half a dozen vamps like it was nothing and Benny took you down!?” He blurts out in disbelief.

“I was 8, okay!” She yells back at him, meeting his eye. “I had just taken out a Wraith, I was cut up, covered in blood! Benny got the drop on me, and he just…” She pauses and looks away again, loosing her anger. She wipes the tears from her eyes. She continues more quietly, “he stopped…. I heard him say your name before I passed out. When I came to, I was patched up and he was watching over me. Said he had to protect me, for you.”

“How, how is this even possible?” Dean runs his hand through his hair nervously.

“You need me to give you a run down on the bird and the bees,” she mocks him. That’s the kind of snarky come back he would have said if he were in her shoes. She sighs. “Benny said you were in Hell around the time I was born,” she offers, losing the attitude.

Dean has another flash back to the Pit. Screams, his own and those of the woman in his nightmares. Hands forcing their bodies together. Zoey stays quiet, while he is lost in thought. When he finally speaks again, his voice is low. “I traded my soul to save Sam. I was in the Pit, for 40 years.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“After about 30, I just couldn’t anymore, and I….”

“Hey, it’s ok.... Most don’t last that long.”

He looks up from his memories and realizes that Zoey is not a stranger to what happens in Hell, or the Pit. She grew up up there, alone. How she ever managed to come out of there with any sanity or morality is a miracle. 

“Normally I try not to think about it, but lately, I just have this feeling like something else happened down there. Something, I can’t quite remember…. I’m not sure that I want to.”

They are both quiet. He looks at the girl in front of him again. She’s a snarky, bad ass hunter, robbed of any childhood, damaged and traumatized, finally opening up and expecting only to be hurt. It’s like looking into a fucking mirror.

“So, Benny really thinks that I’m…?"

“Yeah.” She swallows hard. “He was sure of it…. When things were quiet, he, uh, he used to tell me stories about you,” she admits, her voice quiet, edged with embarrassment. 

“If you knew, then why didn’t you come here sooner?”

“Dean, I was a mess!” she blurts out. “I .... Let’s just say I didn’t have a lot of ‘people skills’. Benny helped me work through a lot of shit.... When he thought I was ready, he tried to send me to you, but…."

“But what?”

“300 years!” 

They are both quiet again. He watches her closely. “What kept you going?” he asks earnestly. “All those years, what kept you from giving up?”

“I don’t know!” She throws her hands up in defeat. She takes in a long breath and lets it out. “Benny says I’m stubborn.” 

Dean smiles. Benny called him stubborn many times when they were looking for Cas in Purgatory. Usually with a few extra choice words added on for good measure. 

“I wasn’t going to let the fucking universe win,” she continues.

Bad ass hunter.

“So… do you believe Benny?” she asks, testing the waters.

“That you’re my... daughter?” He tries not to stumble over the word, but fails. It’s too foreign on his lips. “Look, there is obviously something here, between you and me. At least now I know what it is.”

“And, you’re not mad at me?” 

She looks up at him. Fearful. Just waiting for the blow to come, be it physical or emotional. He always thought of himself as broken. But seeing her like this, seeing his daughter look at him, just waiting for his rejection, and willing to take it without fighting back. He knows that look, because it’s the same one he gave his father all the times he wasn’t good enough, screwed up, failed to protect Sammy. He thought he was broken, but until this moment, he didn’t know what broken truly meant. He just found out he has a daughter and he has already failed to protect her from being broken too. The fact that there was nothing he could have done about the situation is irrelevant, of course he is going to blame himself. But he can still try to fix this. 

“Zoey, none of this is your fault. And it doesn’t change what I said. You can still stay with us as long as you like.... I want you to, even more so now that I know.” 

Zoey looks relieved for the first time. “Benny wanted to tell you in his letter, but I wouldn’t let him,” she confesses. “I wanted to know for myself first.”

“Make sure your dad was’t some crazy human?” He gives her a playful punch to the shoulder, eliciting a smile, the first he has seen on her in days, but it’s short lived.

“What about Sam?” The anxiety creeps back into her voice.

“What about him?”

“Are you going to tell him?” She asks, her eyes pleading.

“Yeah, just give me a little time.”

“Thanks,” she sighs with relief. “I can’t take all this emotional crap.”

Dean laughs, clapping her on the shoulder. “Apparently, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, kiddo.”

**********

Sam glances up from his computer as the door to the Bunker squeaks open, and does a double take as Dean and Zoey make their way down the spiral stair case. Both of them are still covered in blood and gore from taking out the nest.

“What happened to you two?!”

“Oh, this?” Dean realizes as he looks down at their blood drenched clothes. “Yeah, we, uh, got bored and took out a nest. 

“Of vampires? How many?”

“Only a dozen.” Zoey lets out a large yawn. “Ok. I’m beat. I’m gonna clean up and crash. Night guys.” She heads down the hall.

“Use soap!” Dean calls after her.

“Enough to fight off a Leviathan.” She shouts back over her shoulder as she rounds the corner. Once she is out of sight, Dean’s gaze drifts back to his brother, who is giving him a classic bitch face.

“What?”

“You think that was a good idea? I thought we were trying to protect her!”

“She was going stir crazy, and frankly so was I. We just needed to get out and blow off a little steam.”

“6 against 1? That’s not blowing off a little steam!”

“She actually took out 7.” Dean says proudly, and but Sam just glares at him. “So, there were more vamps than anticipated, but man can she handle herself in a fight.”

“Dean, she’s just a kid! If she’s bored, take her bowling or something. Don’t take her hunting for fun.” 

“We were just kids when we started hunting.”

“Yeah, and we are totally screwed up. She should be going to high school, hanging out with friends, living with a nice family.” 

Dean laughs, “Yeah, a nice normal family."

“This is funny to you? After we stop these Demons, she can have a chance at that, at a normal life.” 

“A normal life? Sam, she raised herself in Hell, for over 300 years by the way, retired to the sweet life in Purgatory, her best friend is a vampire, and she’s probably killed more monsters than you and I put together. She has only ever known hunting. Normal is not an option for her!”

“And why not?”

“Because, she’s my daughter!” he shouts back.

Silence. 

“Um... she’s... what?”

Dean takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, calming down. “She just told me tonight. Apparently Benny fed on her once and figured it out.”

“So, Benny goes all Maury Povich and you just believe him? How is that even possible?”

“How old do you think she is?”

“About 13, 14.”

“And where was I fourteen years ago?”

Sam starts counting on this fingers. “You.. were.. in Hell.... But you were dead!”

“Look, Sam, I can’t explain how. But lately I’ve been getting the feeling that something happened down there. Something I blocked out.”

“You finally going to tell me what’s going on? You’ve been having nightmares for weeks, and not like regular nightmares.” 

Dean glares back at his little brother. Annoyed about being called out, but also relieved that his brother knows him so well. “I don’t know what they are.” Dean sighs and sits down heavily in a chair, rubbing a hand down his face. “They feel more like memories than nightmares. Bits and pieces, slipping through the cracks.”

“What happened?”

Dean is quiet, struggling to come to terms with the images that have been plaguing him for weeks. Hands grabbing him, forcing his naked body against the woman’s. A burning pain fills him as he is violated, electrocuted. His protests devolve into screams, which are in turn drowned out by those of the woman. “I didn’t want to… but they made me… I couldn’t…,” he struggles with the words. “I think I raped someone,” he finally whispers, a single tear falling from his eye.

“Dean?” Sam’s voice is gentle. “Dean, it’s not your fault.” 

He looks down the empty hallway after Zoey. “How did she come from something so terrible?”

“Dean, look at me.”

He keeps his eyes low as he turns to face his brother, expecting a look of judgment, disappointment, disgust. Anything but the look of love and concern he finds on his brother’s face when he finally gets the courage to raise his gaze.

“You are not a terrible thing. You are a good person.” 

Sam is quiet while Dean starts to process what he has said. And for the first time, he starts to separate the act of what he did, no, what was done to him, from defining him.

“And Zoey’s a good kid. Who else could have survived growing up in Hell, but a Winchester.” The question, sadly, is kind of rhetorical. But it serves its purpose, drawing a small smirk from Dean. “You know, she reminds me of you. When we were kids.”

“You see it too?”

“It’s all the little things.”

They are both quiet, piecing together memories from their past to the girl.

“You know this means you’re her uncle.” Dean points out.

Sam huffs, Dean having beaten him to it before making the connection himself. “And you still think taking her out hunting for fun was a good idea?”

“Honestly, no. Not at first. But she’s been a hunter 24-7 since day one. Hell, Purgatory, it’s a miracle she’s alive. The least we can do is teach her the ropes about hunting on Earth. Things aren’t always so black and white here.”

“Well that just leaves one question then.”

“And what’s that?”

“Who’s her mother?”

“I don’t know.”

………………………….

The next morning Dean is sitting at the table, coffee in one hand, piece of bacon in the other. Zoey follows her nose into the kitchen, and spies the plate piled high with the savory strips of meat. “Oooo, bacon!” She fixes herself a mug of hot chocolate and sits down next to Dean as he slides the plate in between them. She grabs a piece and closes her eyes, enjoying the smokey flavor. She finally looks at ease.

“How did you sleep last night?”

“Better, thanks... but I still think beds are weird.”

Sam stumbles in next, yawning, epic bed head.

“Not as weird as your uncle.”

Zoey pauses mid bite, panic in her eyes as they dart between the brothers.

“Okay, okay. Let’s not make this any more awkward. Dean told me last night.”

“And?”

“And, welcome to the family.”

Zoey lets out a sigh of relief as Sam makes his way to the coffee, yawning.

“So… you’re okay ... with me?” she asks, between bites of bacon.

Sam breathes in the coffee’s aroma to help wake up, and turns to face them. Father and daughter are both reaching for more bacon, while still working on a mouthful each. He huffs out a little sigh to himself. “Honestly, everything makes a little more sense now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the secret is out now. I honestly think it was kind of obvious, but I'm interested in what you all think.


	4. Home Life

The Bunker door squeaks open and Dean enters, balancing a tray of coffees on a pastry box. “Breakfast!” He calls out, but he is met with silence. Sam and Zoey must still be out on their morning run. Zoey started joining Sam in the mornings a few weeks ago. At first she didn’t understand why someone would just go for a run if they weren’t hunting or being hunted, but she likes spending time in the woods outside the Bunker. Dean heads to the kitchen and unloads everything onto the table. He grabs a couple of plates from the cupboard, and a stack of napkins from the counter. Sitting back down, he takes a sip of his coffee, before reverently pulling the pastry box in front of him. He opens the lid to reveal 3 oversized muffins, heaped with a crumble topping, dripping with maple glaze, but most importantly, sprinkled with hefty pieces of bacon. 

He picks one up, sliding a plate underneath, and carefully peels off the wrapper, before sinking his teeth into what he can only describe as muffin heaven. A perfect balance of salty and sweet explodes in his mouth.

Off in the distance, the Bunker doors squeaks open again, and moments later Sam enters the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

“Hey,” he huffs, gulping down the liquid.

“Mmmmph,” Dean acknowledges back through another mouthful.

“Is that maple glazed bacon?” he asks, taking a closer look.

Dean swallows and clears his throat. “Don’t worry, little brother, I got you one too.” He pulls out another muffin, setting it down on one of two empty plates next to the box.

“Glad I put in that extra mile this morning.” Sam peels back the wrapper and sinks his teeth into the top of the muffin, and lets out a moan.

“I know, right?” Dean agrees around his own mouthful. He gets out the third muffin from the box placing it on the last plate. “Last one’s for Zoey, she doing an extra lap?”

“I thought she went with you.”

“I had a few errands to run this morning so I snuck out early. She didn’t go running with you?”

“She didn’t answer when I knocked on her door?”

They stare at each other for a moment before abandoning their breakfast and heading down the hallway to Zoey’s room. Dean knocks, “Zoey?” 

No answer.

He knocks again a little louder. “Zoey?” When silence greets him again he reaches for the knob. The door isn’t locked and opens into a dark room. “Zoey?” He flips the light switch to reveal Zoey, sleeping, under the covers. Relief washes over him, but it’s only temporary as he realizes Zoey never sleeps in, and up until this point, has always slept on top of the covers.

Dean heads over, and after locating her axe, which has uncharacteristically slipped to the floor, he cautiously nudges her shoulder. “Hey kiddo, time to wake up.”

Her eyes flutter open weakly. “Huh?” she whispers, and falls back asleep.

Dean looks over at Sam, his own concern reflected in his little brother’s face. He gently places a hand on her forehead, shocked at how warm she feels. “Sam, she’s burning up.” Sam rushes out of the room.

“Zoey, you feeling alright?” Dean asks as he sits next to her. He can now feel her shivering under the blanket, and notices that her face is flushed.

A small groan is his only response.

Sam returns with a thermometer and a wet washcloth for her forehead. “Hey, open up, put this under your tongue,” he orders, and Zoey complies. They watch the number’s climb. Ten seconds later, it beeps. 

“103.4. Shit that’s high.” Dean announces. 

Zoey lets out a cruddy cough and then swallows with a pained expression on her face. Sam leaves to get some medicine while Dean tries to get Zoey to sit up. “Come on, Kiddo. There you go.” Sam returns with some Ibuprofen and a glass of water that they coax her to take, and then she’s back down for the count. “Try to get some rest. We’ll be right outside.” They back out into the hallway, turning off the light, but leaving the door cracked open.

“So, what do you think?” Sam asks, keeping his voice low.

“I think we let her rest and check her temp again in an hour.”

“You don’t think it’s some kind of hex or spell?”

“I think it’s just a cold, Sammy.”

………

3 hours later, they are sitting in an exam room at a local clinic. Zoey’s fever spiked to 104.0 and she was even less coherent. The doctor examined her, took a throat swab, and asked them to wait in the room. Zoey is huddled in an oversized hoodie. She fell asleep again leaning on Dean’s shoulder. 

The door opens and the doctor returns, test results in hand. “Zoey has Influenza A. Did she get a flu shot this year?”

“I don’t know.” Dean responds, receiving a glare from the doctor. 

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“She only started living with me last month. I don’t think she’s vaccinated.”

“You and her mother are separated?”

“Yeah,” Dean answers sheepishly.

“Well, I hope you are more proactive and get Zoey vaccinated as soon as she is better. In the mean time, push fluids, keep her hydrated, monitor her fever, she can take Ibuprofen every 8 hours, and here are your prescriptions for Tamilflu.” 

Sam takes the scripts from the doctor, looking closely at them. “Wait a minute, doctor. There are scripts here for both of us as well?”

“Yes, well, you’ve all been exposed. By taking a preventative dose of Tamilflu, you reduce your risk of getting sick. I suggest you all take some time off and rest. The flu season has been really bad this year.”

………………..…

“Awww, come on!” Dean yells at the TV, waking Zoey from a nap. They’ve spent the last two days camped out in front of the TV, binging on Netflix. 

“Hmmm?” she mumbles bleary eyed, sitting up. Her hair is spiked up on the side of her head that was smooshed into the pillow.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“What happened?” 

“Dr. Piccolo was suspended for the unauthorized heart transplant.”

“What?! How could they do that, it was totally the right call!”

“I know!”

“She saved that boy’s life!”

“I know!”

“That’s so unfair! Does Dr. Sexy know?”

“He’s the one who suspended her.”

“What!?”

“Oh yeah, he was promoted to Chief of Medicine.”

“When did that happen?!”

“About 2 episodes ago.”

“And you didn’t wake me!”

“You needed the rest. Which reminds me…” Dean hits pause and grabs the thermometer. “Open up.”

Zoey takes the thermometer and places it in her mouth. Ten seconds later it beeps, the digital display reads 99.8.

“Finally under 100. How you feeling?”

“I still feel exhausted… but… hungry?” She hadn’t had much more than tea and water for the last two days.

“That’s good. Come on, I’ll fix you something to eat.”

They head to the kitchen and Zoey sits down at the table while Dean gets out a pot and rummages in the cupboard. He pulls out a can of soup and starts it simmering on the stove. Zoey coughs, still sounding raspy, and grabs her head, closing her eyes tight.

“Still have that headache?”

She lets out a groan. “Being sick sucks. How do people deal with this?” This was the first illness Zoey has ever had to deal with. Injuries, sure, she’s had plenty, a number of those serious too, but now a virus was kicking her ass.

“Meds,” Dean replies, placing a glass of water and more pills in front of her. She obediently swallows the medicine down with the water. Dean turns off the stove and grabs a ladle to fill a bowl, sliding it across the counter to Zoey. 

“It smells good. What it is?”

“Tomato Soup with Rice.”

She blows on the spoon before taking a taste. 

“I like it.”

“That’s ‘cuz you’re a Winchester.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Sexy!!!!


	5. Owls Well that Ends Well

Dean is sipping coffee, reading a dusty old book from the Men of Letters Library, but not really focusing on the words in front of him. He has been having less nightmares since Zoey told him he was her father; but when he does, they are worse. Knowing that the woman he was forced on is Zoey’s mother, and he has no way of finding out who she is. But last night was a good night, without any dreams or nightmares. He feels rested for the first time in a long time. 

His phone rings and Jody’s name pops up. A smile crosses his face as he answers. “Hey, Jody. It’s been a while.”

“Hey, Dean,” comes the sheriff’s warm voice. 

“How are you and the girls?”

“I’m doin’ alright. The girls are good. Alex got a promotion at the hospital and Patience is top of her class at USF.”

“How’s Claire?”

“She’s good. Keeping busy with hunting, working a cursed object case right now. How are you boys doin’?”

“We are... good.” Dean answers, realizing that it doesn’t feel like a lie. 

“I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind swinging by to help with a case. I could really use some fresh eyes on this one.”

“Sure, you think it’s up our alley?”

“Patience seems to think so.”

“What’s the case?”

There is a pause. “Multiple Child Abduction.” The friendly lilt in Jody’s voice from earlier is missing. 

Right then the door to the Bunker squeaks opens. Sam and Zoey enter, both sweaty from their run. Finally over the flu, she has rejoined Sam in the mornings.

“We’ll be right there,” Dean assures her.

“I’ll text you the address.”

“Anyway, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. We’ll see you this afternoon.” He hangs up before Jody can ask any more questions.

Sam and Zoey stop in the Library. “We going somewhere?” Sam asks, while catching his breath.

“That was Jody. She needs our help on a missing persons case.”

“Who’s Jody?” Zoey asks. 

“She’s the Sheriff outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Another hunter,” Sam explains.

“Jody’s like family,” Dean adds. “Get cleaned up, we leave in twenty….”

“Wait,” Sam interrupts, “Zoey is supposed to go back to the doctor for a Tetanus shot today.”

“We’ll reschedule.”

“Yes!” Zoey cheers quietly to herself. The girl can face a nest a Vamps without batting an eye, but as they took her in to get started on her vaccines, they discovered that she freaks over a nurse with a needle.

…………………………

The Impala pulls up at a house with a white picket fence and large back yard with a swing set. Jody is waiting outside as the boys pull up and get out, dressed in their Fed suits. She greets them with hugs. 

“Hey, Jody.” Sam says warmly, crushing her in a tight hug.

“Hi, boys. It’s been too long,” she smiles back at them.

“Nice to see you, Jody.” Dean gets his hug in after Sam finally releases her.

Zoey gets out of the back seat looking around. Jody eyes the boys suspiciously. 

“Hey, Zoey, come here. This is Sheriff Jody Mills. Jody, this is Zoey.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jody greets warmly, extending a hand. 

Zoey hesitates for a second before giving her a firm shake. “Sure.”

Sam clears his throat. “Why don’t you fill us in on the case.”

Jody eyes dart from Zoey back to the boys.

“It’s okay,” Dean mouths silently.

“Okay,” Jody draws out the word, a bit confused why they brought a teenager on a hunt. “Three days ago a child was reported missing. Jason Tiller, age 10, out with the family for an evening stroll. Jason ran ahead, and was only out of his parents’ eyesight for a minute. When they caught up to where he should have been, he was gone. Not a trace. Search and Rescue had the dogs all over the area, nothing. Then last night, Sarah Rosen, age 8, went out to play while her parents cleaned up dinner. Disappeared from the fenced in yard.” 

“You said Patience thinks there is a connection between the two cases,” Dean chimes in. “Did she have any visions?”

“That is where this gets strange.” Jody continues. “Patience had visions prior to both disappearances, but they weren’t like her normal visions. She saw each victim, just long enough to get a brief description, and then the visions went blank. We were only able to match her descriptions to the victims after they went missing.”

A deputy interrupts them from the front door, “Sheriff?”

“Coming,” Jody calls back over her shoulder.

Dean indicates for Jody to lead the way while Sam hangs back with Zoey for a moment. Once they can’t be overheard, Jody starts to quietly grill Dean in a hushed voice. “What’s with the kid? You do realize I am not running a boarding house for wayward girls.”

“Could have fooled me,” Dean teases, earning a sharp glare from his friend. “Don’t worry, this one stays with us. It’s a long story, we’ll fill you in later.”

Sam is eyeing the yellow police tape around the fence. “Zoey, you’ll have to wait outside while we talk with the parents. Check outside the perimeter and see if you can find anything the cops may have missed.” She nods and strolls off. Jody starts to protest, but Dean just turns her around and ushers her inside.

…………………..

A round couple sits at the kitchen table. The man has his arm protectively around his wife’s shoulders as she stares into an untouched mug of tea that has long since gone cold. 

“Eric, Angela,” Jody’s voice is gentle, breaking them from their thoughts. “These are the agents I was telling you about. Please tell them what you told me.”

Eric turns to face the agents, while Angela continues to stare off into space. “I was clearing the dining room table, and Angela was doing the dishes. Sarah went out to play on the swings. It was starting to get late so Angie called out to her through the window. Told her it was time to come inside.”

“I bent down to load a plate into the dishwasher, and when I looked up, she was… gone. I only took my eyes off of her for a minute. It was only a minute…” she trails off.

Eric rubs a soothing palm over his wife’s back. “Angie, it’s not your fault, I was right here with you.”

Dean walks over to the sink and looks out the window. The swing set is in plain view. Zoey is walking along the outside of the fence, near the back gate. “So the kitchen window over the sink was open?”

“Yes.” Angela answers.

“And you didn’t hear anything?” Dean asks gently.

“Nothing. I only looked away for a minute. I .…” Angela starts to cry. 

Her husband pulls his wife into a hug. “She should have been safe. The yard is fenced in.”

“And you don’t think she could have wandered off?” Sam asks Eric.

“No. It was Sarah’s birthday last week. The swing set was a surprise. She’s been playing on it non-stop. We could barely get her to come inside all week. Besides, she can’t even undo the latch on the gate.”

“Thank you. If you can think of anything else that is useful, please give us a call.” Sam hands Eric his card. Jody goes to comfort the parents. 

Dean leans over to Sam. "Let’s go check the yard.” 

………………..

Zoey walks around the outside of the fence. She notices a large feather under a tree and picks it up. Black with tiny dots and stripes towards the tip. She hangs onto the feather, twirling it between her fingers, as her gaze moves up to the surrounding trees. 

Jody, Sam, and Dean walk into the back yard, making their way towards the swing set. Sam has the EMF reader out. Dean breaks away from the other two and heads through the gate in the fence. The latch sticks and the gate squeaks as he has to use both hands, one to hold the latch open, and the other to lift up on the gate. Definitely child proof for an 8 year old, and noisy enough that it would have been heard through the open kitchen window if anyone had opened it from the outside. 

Zoey approaches a low hanging branch. Fresh marks mar the bark. She runs her fingers along the deep scratches. Whatever made them was large, and powerful.

“Find anything.”

Zoey turns to look at Dean. “Yeah.” She holds up her hand but the feather is missing. She looks down at her feet to make sure she didn’t drop it. She looks back up at the branch, but the claw marks are missing too. She reaches out and feels the bark, now smooth under her fingers. “Where did they go?”

“Where did what go?”

“There were claw marks. And I found a feather, but everything’s gone now.” Dean looks questioningly at her. “I’m not making this up,” she states, drawing glances from Sam and Jody as they approach.

“What do you mean, disappeared?” Dean asks.

“I mean, the feather was in my hand and now it’s gone. The claw marks were right here, and they are gone too.” She sounds frustrated.

“You’re sure of what you saw?” Jody questions.

“The marks were fresh, at least a centimeter deep. I ran my fingers down the grooves.” The feather was weird too. Large, black, with some stippling and stripes.”

Sam puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We believe you, Zoey. Hey, I have a sketch pad in the car. Do you think you can draw what the feather looked like? Then maybe we can search for a match.”

“Yeah.” Zoey sounds a little defeated but heads back to the car with Sam. Jody and Dean are left alone.

“So, who is she? A hunter or a case?” Jody asks as soon as the others are out of earshot.

“Both.” He takes a breath, and lets it out slowly. “Zoey is my daughter." Jody stares at Dean. Speechless. “Yeah, it was a shock to me too. Only just found out.”

“What? … Where? … Who is her mother?” She stammers out.

“We don’t know. Zoey raised herself.”

“Homeless? Foster care?”

“She raised herself in Hell.”

Jody just stares at Dean again. “How does that even happen?” she finally blurts out.

“We’re … still working on that.” Dean answers, omitting the details he is ashamed of, but he can’t hide the guilt that creeps into his voice. 

Jody can see that whatever Dean is leaving out is eating at him. She continues more softly. “How did she find you?” she asks, looking for a safer approach to this topic.

Dean clears his throat. “She eventually made her way to Purgatory and then to us.”

“And you’re sure she’s yours?”

“Pretty sure. She met an old friend of mine in Purgatory, Benny.”

"The vampire?”

“Yeah. He says she’s mine. He could tell.”

“And you trust him?”

“Benny is different.”

Jody just shakes her head. “It’s always complicated with you boys.”

……………………..

They make their way back to the Impala. Zoey has finished her sketch of the feather. The drawing is photorealistic. “You drew that? Just now?” Dean looks over at Sam who gives him a little nod, confirming the artistic feat.

“What?” she demands.

“Nothing, it’s just really good.” He says, passing the sketch to Jody who is equally impressed.

“I’ve had a lot of time to practice.” She replies, meekly.

Sam clears his throat. “Zoey wants to check out where Jacob went missing.”

“We still need to talk to the other family.” Dean counters.

“It’s getting late. Why don’t you boys head over to the Tiller household. I can take Zoey to check out the other abduction site. Meet back at my place when we’re done?” She hands the drawing back to Sam.

“Zoey, you okay going with Jody?” Dean asks a little protectively.

“Sure,” she answers indifferently.

…………………

Jody is driving her SUV, while Zoey sits in the passenger seat, looking out the window. She keeps one eye on the road while stealing glances at the girl next to her. Her short brown hair is messy, a little darker than Dean’s, but still has the same amber highlights. Her lips are full. Eyes a darker green, but still full of intensity. Except for the lack of freckles, she definitely looks like she could be Dean’s daughter.

“So…” Jody clears her throat, breaking the silence. “How do you like Earth?” she asks awkwardly.

“The food is nice”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Of course Dean’s kid would think of food first.

“So, Dean told you?” Zoey turns so she can really look at Jody.

“Yeah, he did.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“I don’t know. He just seems to care a lot about what you think, they both do.”

“I’ve known those boys a long time. They mean a lot to me. They’re family.”

“They say the same about you.”

They ride in silence for another minute before Jody speaks again, unable to stop herself from asking. “And Dean is really your father?”

“That’s what Benny says.”

“And you trust Benny?”

“With my life.”

“Look, my daughter, Alex, was raised by vampires.” The remark earns Jody the full intensity of Zoey’s gaze. “She’s adopted. Anyway, I know the mind games Vamps can play with a person, especially a child…."

“I know where you’re going with this,” Zoey cuts her off, “but, you’re wrong. I wasn’t some young impressionable child.”

“Yeah? How old were you when you met him?”

“8.” 

Jody shakes her head. 

“Or 300. It depends on how you count.” 

“Uh, I’m sorry, did you say 300?”

“Yeah, something like that. Time moves differently in Hell. Anyway, look, I know vampires. I’ve killed plenty. Benny is different.”

“So I keep hearing.”

…………………..

“Why don’t you tell us what happened that evening,” Dean asks the couple in front of him. The husband and wife are seated on a couch in the living room. Neither looks like they have slept since the abduction.

Mr. Tiller gives his wife’s hand a reassuring squeeze. "We were out on our after dinner walk along the trail with Bowie.” He inclines his head to the elderly Beagle sleeping at their feet. “Jason just finished his turn holding the leash, and Susie was having a turn.”

“Susie?” Sam asks.

“Our daughter. She’s 6,” Mrs. Tiller offers. “Jason ran ahead along the trail.” 

“I called out, told him to stay where we could see him,” Mr. Tiller continues. “But he went around the bend anyway.”

“We were coming up on the foot bridge. He probably just wanted to throw rocks into the stream like he always does.” 

“He was only out of sight for a minute,” Mr. Tiller continues. “I ran after him, but when I made it to the foot bridge, he was gone. We called out, looked everywhere. It was like he just vanished.” 

“And none of you heard anything?” Dean inquires.

“No,” they respond together.

“After 10 minutes of searching, we finally called 911.” Mrs. Tiller admits. 

“Do you mind if I talk to Susie?” Sam tightens his grip on the sketch pad, giving Dean a slight nod.

“If you think it will help. She hasn’t said much since Jason went missing. All the yelling and screaming, then the police… it really frightened her. She’s up in her room. Top of the stairs, on the left.

………………….

Sam knocks on the open door to Susie’s room. She is sitting on her bed, holding a stuffed unicorn, and a pile of action figures.

“Hi, Susie. I’m Sam. I’m helping the police to try and find your brother.”

She doesn’t say anything.

“Can I sit down?”

She pulls her feet up to make room on the bed. Sam sits on the edge, and looks at the toys. He picks up one of the figures and shows it to her. “Thor is my favorite Avenger. Which one is yours?” 

She picks up Hulk.

“Nice. I heard that you helped your parents look for Jason yesterday. Is that right?”

She nods.

“You know, sometimes kids are better at seeing things than grown ups. Did you see anything when you were helping your parents?”

Susie’s eyes go wide and she just stares at Sam. 

“You saw something… something strange?”

She nods slowly.

“Did it disappear.”

Her jaw drops.

“It’s okay. I’m not like other grown ups. I believe you.” He gets out the sketch pad and shows her Zoey’s drawing of the feather. 

“Was it this?”

The look of fright on her face is the only answer he needs.

…………………

Jody is leading Zoey down a well worn path in the woods. “This is where the Tiller’s were when Jason ran ahead. He rounded that bend, and that was the last anyone saw of him.” They come around the bend, and step onto the foot bridge that passes over a stream. Zoey looks over the edge at the water, and then up at the surrounding trees. “See anything?” Jody asks, following her gaze.

“This is an ideal hunting spot for an aerial attack. The bridge acts as a choke point, prey gets funneled onto it, limited escape potential, surrounded by vantage points up in the trees.” A few of the larger branches catch her eye. She makes her way to the end of the bridge and hops down to the embankment to head upstream. Jody follows. 

“You think a bird took the children?”

“I never said it was a bird, I just think it can fly.”

“If it can fly, that would explain the lack of tracks and scent trail. The dogs were all over this area of the forest, searching for Jason.” 

They reach the base of the tree. Zoey bends down and finds a feather hidden in the tall grass. “Here, I found another feath…” but as she turns around, eyes locked on the feather, it vanishes as soon as she faces Jody. 

“Did it disappear again?”

“You don’t believe me.” 

“Actually, I do. I haven’t been doing this as long as Sam and Dean, but I know enough that when things go weird, anything is game.”

Zoey looks up into the tree branches. “Do me a favor, close your eyes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Get you some evidence.” Zoey starts to climb the tree. 

Jody closes her eyes. “I don’t like this. If anything happens to you…"

“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ll talk to you the whole time.”

“Well, then keep talking.”

“About what?”

“What’s your favorite food?”

“So far... pie.” 

“Are you serious?... How’s it going?... Zoey?”

Zoey reaches a large branch and looks out. She has an ideal view of the foot bridge. She inspects the branch and finds more claw marks, deep in the bark. “I found more claw marks.... Hold on, I’m getting a picture,” she says, shifting her balance on the limb so she can safely pull out her phone. “Okay, open your eyes, come over, and look where I’m pointing.”

Jody repositions herself so she has an unobstructed view of Zoey and the branch from the ground. “It looks like a normal tree branch to me.”

“Aaaand, they just disappeared.”

“Are they still on the photo?”

“Yeah. Wait there, I’m coming down.” Zoey swings down and drops to the ground, landing gracefully near Jody. 

“Show me the picture.”

The girl hesitates. "What if it disappears too?

“Your drawing of the feather didn’t.” 

Zoey hands over the phone. Jody sees the claw marks on the branch in the photo. Then looks up to see the same branch without claw marks. 

“Please tell me you see them?”

…………………

Sam and Dean make it back to Jody’s first. Alex is in her scrubs getting her bag ready for the evening shift at the hospital. Patience is sitting between the boys at the dinning room table. 

“So, what happened to your visions? Are you sick, are you feeling okay?” Dean places a hand on her shoulder, full of concern.

“I’m fine. It’s only these visions about the missing children. I’ve had others since that were… normal, if you can call a vision that. It was just a glimpse of each kid, before they disappeared; but their fear, it didn’t disappear. It’s like I could still feel them even though I couldn’t see them.”

“Has anything like this ever happened before with your visions?” Sam asks.

“No.” 

The front door kicks open, revealing Claire, in work gloves, holding a strong wooden chest about 2 feet square, shut with a pad lock. She walks in and unceremoniously dumps the box on the table. 

“Claire! We didn’t expect to see you. Jody said you were busy with a case in Des Moines.” Dean stands up to greet her with a warm hug.

“I was, but then I heard you were coming and I didn’t want to miss all the fun.”

Sam makes his way around the table as well to give her his own bone crushing hug. "What’s with the box?”

“Cursed object.”

“What is it?” Dean asks.

“It’s hideous. That’s what it is.” She pulls out a key from a chain around her neck and opens the lock, still wearing the work gloves. Inside is a porcelain statue of a cat painted in gaudy bright flowers. Everyone but Alex gathers round to look inside. 

“What’s it do?” Dean says, unconsciously reaching out to touch it.

Claire smacks his hand away as he earns a chastising glance from Sam. She closes the lid and starts to lock up the box again. “Turns the owner into a crazy cat person. Eventually they take in so many cats that they are devoured alive.” Dean makes a face and grimaces, wiping his hand clean on his shirt, even though he never touched the thing. “I’ve chased this across 4 owners and 3 counties over the last 8 months. It kept getting away from me.”

“What tipped you off that this was the cursed object?” Dean asks.

“Did I mention it’s hideous?” she dead pans. Dean just rolls his eyes at her. “Some of the owners weren’t your typical cat ladies.” Claire continues. “One was a high profile corporate lawyer that quit her job, adopted every cat at the local shelter, and then started collecting strays off the street. This masterpiece was prominently displayed in her post-modern penthouse.... Want to help me destroy it?”

“Sounds like fun.” Dean has a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

While they are discussing spells and fires, Patience starts to back away and then freezes. Alex is the only one who notices as she had no interest in Claire’s ‘prize.’ “Patience?” she calls out, drawing everyone’s attention to the psychic, staring off at something the rest of them can’t see.

“Patience?” Dean calls to her with a gentle touch to her arm, but she doesn’t respond. “Is she having another vision?”

“Just give her a moment. It’ll pass.” Alex instructs, grabbing a glass of water and heading over. Patience comes out of the vision, and looks around at everyone. 

“Patience, it’s okay, come on, sit down.” Claire says, grabbing a chair for her. Alex hands her the glass and she takes a sip. 

“It’s going to happen again.”

“Another abduction?” Dean presses.

Patience nods. 

“You saw another child? Anything else?” Sam hopes.

“Just a girl, and then everything went blank again. White, uh… uh… a few years older than Jason, hoddie, denim jacket, short brown hair, green eyes.”

Alex gives her a confused look. “Wait, you didn’t notice eye color on the other two?”

“This one was different. She looked right at me in the vision. And she… she wasn’t afraid.”

At that moment, Jody and Zoey walk through the front door carrying bags of takeout. “Foods here!” Jody calls out. 

Patience gasps and the rest of the room goes silent as they stare at Zoey. She matches the description in the vision perfectly. 

…………..

“You’re sure it was Zoey in your vision?” Dean is agitated. They are all gathered around the table, but no one has touched the take out.

“Yes.”

“What exactly did you see?” Jody asks in a much calmer voice.

“I saw Zoey, and then everything went blank. Just like the others.”

“But your visions don’t always come true. You’ve used the information in them to change what happens.” Dean is grasping for a way to turn this around.

“But there is no other information. I only know that Zoey’s next.” 

“But…”

“Dean!” Jody cuts him off and gives him a mom stare to back off. “Look, we’ve learned all we are going to from the vision, at least we know who it is this time before anything happens. If anything happens.” She adds to try and settle Dean. “We just need to work the rest of the case. Zoey and I found more evidence in the woods.”

“Did you see it this time?” Sam asks Jody.

“Not directly. Zoey found another feather that disappeared when she tried to show it to me.”

“Susie Tiller also found a feather that disappeared when she tried to show her parents. She said it matched your drawing.” He pulls out the sketch pad with the drawing of the feather and places it on the table. 

“But there was another set of claw marks on a tree branch,” Jody continues. “Zoey got a picture before they disappeared as well.” 

Zoey gets out her cellphone with the photo. Everyone gathers round. “Jacob’s abduction site was perfect for an aerial predator.” Zoey explains. “These marks must be from talons.” 

“Most raptors have 3 toes in the front, and 1 in the back. This picture shows 2 and 2. Only Owls and Ospreys spread their toes evenly like that.”

“Really, Sam? Birds? Your nerdiness knows no bounds.” Claire teases, beating Dean to the insult. Sam shoots a bitch face at both of them, while Dean shuts his mouth and nervously rubs the back of his neck, trying to pretend he wasn’t about to say the same thing. Sam returns his attention to the photo. “This reminds me of something.” He heads off to get his laptop. 

“So, why can only you and little Susie see these things? Why does everything disappear when the rest of us try to see it?” Dean asks Zoey.

“Because they’re kids.” Claire says like it’s obvious.

Zoey rolls her eyes and huffs at being called a kid. Jody doesn’t miss it. “Hey, biologically speaking you are still a kid.”

“It’s because we are dealing with a Tah-tah-kle’-ah.” Sam says triumphantly.

“A Ta-ta-what-now?” Dean says.

Sam turns the laptop around so they can see the drawing of a large, feathered creature. It has the body of an owl, and the head of a human, but the nose and chin are pointed into a beak. “Tah-tah-kle’-ah. “ Sam says more slowly. “The Native American Yakama tribe used to tell stories about an Owl Woman that would steal children if they wandered off and disobeyed their parents.”

“That fits the profile for both kids.” Dean makes the connection. “Jason ran ahead when his dad called out to stay within eye sight. And Sarah stayed out to play on her swing, after they called her to come inside.”

“What happens to the kids?” Patience asks Sam.

He continues to read down the page. “They are eaten,” he says defeatedly before reading on, “…or kept to raise into more Owl Monsters,” he says with more hope. “So they could still be alive.”

“Where do these things like to nest?” Alex speaks up.

“Uh... caves,” he replies.

“There are several caves up in the hills,” Jody offers. “Some go pretty deep. Searching all of them will take days.”

“Sarah doesn’t have days, and it may already be too late for Jason.” Dean interjects.

“How do we kill it?” Claire asks, getting down to business.

“The story says one was killed when its cave erupted in fire.”

“So how do we find and kill a monster when we can’t see it?” Jody asks.

“You mean you can’t see it.” Zoey finally speaks up. Drawing everyone’s gaze again. You could hear a pin drop.

“No,” Dean says with finality, breaking the silence.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

“But I’m already gonna get taken.”

“We can stop that.”

“Then how are we going to find Sarah and Jason?” she fires back heatedly.

“How are we going to find you?” he yells at her.

Zoey doesn’t have a response, but she doesn’t back down from his stare. The others have backed off a little.

“She’s got a point, Dean." Sam says quietly.

Dean shoots daggers at Sam, before throwing his hands up in defeat and turning back to Zoey. The fight fades from his eyes as he realizes they don’t have other options. Jody incredulously looks at him. 

“You’re not seriously considering this! She’s your daughter!”

“What!” “Excuse me!” “Daughter!” Claire, Alex and Patience all shout at once.

“Look, I’ve hunted longer than all of you put together. I can do this.”

The three older girls are even more confused. 

“This plan sucks.” Dean shakes his head, voice rough with worry.

“Then make is less sucky. But right now, it’s our only option.”

…………….

Twenty minutes later, Zoey is gearing up with the help of Sam, Claire, and Patience. Alex had to leave for her shift at the hospital.

Claire clips a tracking device onto Zoey’s belt. “Cell signal in the hills is spotty. This is a satellite based GPS tracker. We’ll be able to track you anywhere above ground. So we might lose the signal if you’re inside a cave. But we will at least know where the cave entrance is.”

Sam straps a leg holster on her right side, and makes sure the flare gun can be pulled freely out. Then he gives her a demo. “Open, load, aim, pull trigger. It will burn hot enough to cause a fire on whatever it hits. Just make sure you can get clear, and don’t look directly at it. It’s bright enough to blind you temporarily. Extra flares.” He holds up 2 more rounds that she takes and zips into a pocket. “Make sure to empty the old casing before loading a new one.”

“So, you really spent a few hundred years in Hell?” Claire questions, checking the signal of the tracker on the receiver.

“More or less.”

“What is it with you Winchesters?” she gripes at Sam. 

Jody and Dean are talking away from the others in the corner in hushed voices.

“She doesn’t have to do this.” Jody implores him.

“Look, I don’t like it anymore than you do, but she’s right. It’s our only option. Where else are we going to find a highly trained hunter that is young enough to see this thing? And if anyone can go in alone on something like this, it’s Zoey.”

“If you say so.”

Sam pipes up, “Ok. She’s ready.”

Patience wishes Zoey good luck.

Jody turns to Zoey, giving her a full mom stare. “Claire and I will be following you in the SUV.”

“Can we have the pie when I get back?” Zoey says, brushing off the Sheriff’s concern for her. Claire rolls her eyes at Dean and heads out to the car. 

Jody sighs, “sure.” 

…..

Sam and Dean walk Zoey outside to the back yard. The boys stay on the back porch and Zoey heads out into the yard. She turns to face the boys while she slowly backs away towards the tree line. Nothing happens. She motions for them to turn around. They look away and then look back. She’s still there.

Sam grabs Dean by the shoulder, turning him so they are face to face, and whispers to him, “She has to disobey you.”

“What?” Dean whispers back.

“She has to disobey you and wander off.”

“How is she supposed to do that? I’ve already agreed to this stupid plan.”

They check again and she is still there. 

“You have to change your mind.” 

“How am I supposed to do that?!”

“I mean it really is a stupid plan.”

“What?! You were the first one to jump on board!”

“The information on Tah-tah-kle’-ah is pretty bare bones at best. What if we’re wrong?  
What if the flare gun doesn’t work? What if they need to be drowned or something else? What if there is more than one?”

“Now you’re questioning the plan?”

“We ARE using her as bait. Maybe we should rethink this. I mean, she is my niece, she’s your daughter, for cryin’ out loud.”

"Okay, okay, enough! Zoey get back here.”

Zoey gives them both the finger, turns her back on them, and walks away faster.

“Zoey!”

Sam grabs Dean and turns him away again. 

“What are you doing? Will you get your hands off me!” Dean shouts, pushing Sam’s arms away to break free of his grasp, but when he turns back to the yard Zoey is gone. 

“Zoey? Zoey!”

“Come on, let’s move.” 

……………………..

Jody is barreling down the back roads towards the hills as fast has she can navigate the twists and turns. Claire has been giving Jody directions as she follows the GPS signal on the receiver. Dean and Sam are right behind in Baby.

“Claire, how’s the signal?” Dean voice comes through the speaker of her cellphone.

“It’s good. Heading west into the hills,” she responds.

“That’s where the caves are,” Jody confirms. 

“Jody, keep us on route 13,” Claire instructs.

“This better work.” Dean’s voice is strained with worry.

“The signal just went dead.”

“Where?” Jody asks.

“About a mile north of Fall Creek.”

“Dean, there’s a service road coming up, hard right.” Jody instructs.

“Got it, Jody.”

Jody crashes through the small gate at full speed. Dean’s hot on her heels. 

………………..

The Owl adjusts its grip, talons cutting deeper into her shoulder and hip. Painful, but the only thing keeping her from falling to the earth rushing past beneath her, so she welcomes the secure hold. After what seems like forever, the Owl slows its flight, air buffeting her from above with the powerful downward strokes. Suddenly the talons release, throwing her through the open entrance of a cave. Tucking and rolling as best she can, Zoey tumbles into a pile of animal bones that have been picked clean. She crouches low, ready for the next attack, but the monster stands in the entrance, blocking what little light filters in and the way out. Slowly, Zoey backs up against the wall behind her and inches her way deeper into the cave. The Owl watches her with its eyes, but makes no motion to stop or follow. Finally, she makes it around a bend in the stone wall beyond the monster’s gaze. She listens, but still does not hear a pursuit. Instead, the sound of someone or something shuffling deeper in the cavern catches her attention, followed by a small whimper.

“Jason? Sarah?”

Zoey cracks a small glow stick, lighting up the cavern in a dim yellow glow, revealing the two missing children, dirty and bloodied, leaning against the far wall. Sarah quickly shields her eyes from the sudden brightness, and huddles into Jason, who is passed out against an outcropping of rocks. Zoey kneels down, placing the glow stick on the ground beside her, and puts out her empty hands, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay. I’m here to help,” she says soothingly as she crawls closer. “My name’s Zoey. You’re Sarah, right?”

The poor girl nods.

“Good, good. Is he okay?”

Sarah shakes her head no. Zoey quickly assess the boy. Shallow breathing, sweating despite the cool damp air, a makeshift bandage caked in dried blood is tied around a deep gash in his thigh. Zoey takes out a flask of Holy Water, placing it to his lips. Slowly he comes to, sputtering but taking in as much of the liquid as he can. Once he has had enough, she passes the flask to Sarah who gulps the rest down. 

“Jason. Jason. Wake up. We need to get out of here. Can you walk?”

“Huh? What?”

“Can you walk?”

“No, it… it hurts too much,” the boy winces. 

“Then I need you to crawl for me. Can you crawl?”

“I… I’ll try.”

“Okay, my friends and the Sheriff are going to meet us outside. I’m going to distract the monster. But I need the two of you to crawl out of the cave. Can you do that?”

The two children are silent, but in the dim light, she sees their eyes dilate with fear a second before a shadow passes over them. 

“Son of a Bitch!” she whispers. Turning around, Zoey comes face to face with the Owl. It lets out a deafening screech. Sarah screams. The monster attacks. 

………………….

Jody and Dean stop at the end of the service road. They all get out of the cars. Claire adjusts the GPS tracker. 

Dean rushes over. “Has the signal reappeared.”

“No, not yet.”

Off in the distance a screech echos through the night.

“This way.” Jody leads them up a narrow trail.

…………………

“Go! Now!” Zoey yells, wrestling the monster off to the side, away from the children and deeper into the cave. Sarah and Jason start to crawl as fast as they can towards the entrance. Straddling the beast, Zoey pulls a knife, plunging it deep into its chest, but it seems unaffected. Its wings beat wildly, hitting her on both sides, until she falls back. The Owl strikes with its beak, but Zoey thrusts the knife up into the roof of its open mouth. The sharp blade breaks through the top of the beak, but the hilt and handle prevent the mouth from closing, which likely would have taken her arm completely off. Letting go, Zoey yanks her arm free, but it is sliced open on the razor sharp edge of the beak. The monster lets out a piercing shriek. As she backs away from the wailing beast, she draws the flare gun from her holster, and shoots. A blinding white light fills the cave as it erupts into flames. Holding her bleeding arm up to block the light, Zoey scrambles around the cave wall, in time to hear Sarah scream. Blinking spots from her eyes, she sees another Tah-tah-kle’-ah blocking the entrance, advancing on the children. Zoey charges the monster, tackling it out of the cave.

……………….

Sam, Dean, Jody, and Claire are moving through the woods as fast as they can. They hear Sarah’s scream and pause trying to locate the direction it came from. 

“The signal is back.”

“Which way?”

“100 meters. This way.” Claire points up hill.

………………….

Zoey lands on top of the monster’s back, but it swivels its head around 180 degrees to look at her and tries to strike. Falling back out of its reach, she fumbles to reload the flare gun, fingers slick with blood. The monster moves to strike her again, but Zoey shoots the second flare at point blank range. The clearing lights up in blinding white light, and screeching fills the air. Zoey is blinded by the light, as the flaming monster towers over her. 

At that moment the others enter the clearing, taking in the scene. Jody and Claire run over to Sarah and Jason, while Sam and Dean charge in to pull Zoey away from the burning, flailing monster. The three of them catch their breath in a heap on the forest floor while the monster slows is movements, finally stopping, a macabre bon fire. Dean hides Zoey’s face in his shoulder, protecting her from the light, as she painfully clenches her eyes shut.

“We got you, kiddo.”

……………………

The ER of the hospital is buzzing. Jason is laying down on a gurney with an IV, getting antibiotics and fluids while they prep his leg for surgery. Sam is keeping him company. Sarah is sitting up on an exam table, Patience distracting her while a nurse cleans her wounds. Zoey is in a darkened corner, sitting up on a bed while the Doctor checks her eyes. Her left arm is stitched up, resting on a table, while Alex carefully wraps a bandage around it. The Doctor leaves to make notes in her chart and write up orders. 

Zoey closes her eyes while Alex finishes the wrap on her arm where the beak sliced her open. “You’re gonna be ok, you know that, right?”

“It’s just a cut, and the doctor just said my eyes will get better.” She keeps said eyes closed despite the darkened corner, as even the dimmed lights give her a headache.

“It’s a laceration that went down to the bone, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Zoey actually squints open her eyes to look at Alex, tilting her head in confusion.

“Sam and Dean are good people, the best. You’re very lucky to have them… as family,” Alex explains.

“I’ve never had a family before… A human one.”

“It’s different, I’ll give you that, but from what I hear, Benny was good people too.” Zoey gives a little huff. “You miss him?”

Zoey doesn’t answer so Alex starts to clean up the bandage materials. “Yeah, I miss him,” she finally whispers. “What about you… do you miss…?”

“No,” Alex answers resolutely. “No, they were not good ‘people.’ I thought they cared about me, but no. I’m lucky now. Jody, Patience, even Claire,” she says with a chuckle. “They are my family. But don’t tell Claire I said that.” The nurse gives her a playful smirk and Zoey smiles back. “Hey, hand me your phone,” Alex orders. Zoey fishes it out from her pocket with her good arm. “I’m giving you my number. If you ever need to talk, call me. Oh, one last thing.” Alex reaches onto the tray and grabs a syringe, and before Zoey can figure out what is happening she plunges it into her shoulder.”

“What the hell, Alex!”

“Tetanus shot.”  
“Not cool!”

………………….

Dean is standing off to the side with Jody and Claire. “Thank you. This stupid plan never would have worked without the two of you.”

“Dean, we never would have saved those kids if it wasn’t for Zoey and you boys.” Just then the Tillers and the Rosens arrive at the hospital, calling out for Jason and Sarah. Tears and wails of joy fill the air as they are reunited. “That’s my cue. Excuse me.” Jody heads off to talk to the parents, leaving Dean and Claire alone, quietly watching Zoey and Alex from across the room. 

“You’ve got one hell of a daughter there.” There is a hint of sadness in Claire’s voice. 

Dean looks down at the young woman next to him. “Yeah, she’s not my only one.”He puts his arm around her shoulder pulling her into a hug. “I’m proud of you. You’re a fine hunter.” She starts to protest the display of affection but Dean just shushes her. “Shut up, Claire.” She gives up with a sigh and hugs back.

The Doctor comes over, clearing his throat as he interrupts them. “Mr. Winchester?”

………………….

Dean finishes talking to the Doctor, and heads over to Zoey, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed. She squints up at him and starts to apologize, but Dean just pulls her into a tight hug, being careful not to jostle her injuries. He doesn’t say anything. Zoey is shocked into silence, her body stiff with tension. But then Dean feels her take a deep breath and lean into the embrace. After a long moment, he finally lets go, holding her out at arms length, searching her face. “Are you okay?”

Zoey nods, too afraid to say anything at the moment.

“The Doctor says your vision should clear up in a day or two.” He takes out his sunglasses and puts them on her, quietly wiping the tear from her cheek before pulling his hand away. Jody walks over with gloves and DNA swabs. 

“Really, Jody?” Dean chides her.

“Look, I believe you. There is no way the two of you are not father and daughter. But who knows, we could possibly get a hit on Zoey’s mom if she’s in the database.”

He turns back to Zoey, swimming in his oversized sunglasses. “What do you say, kiddo?”

************  
************  
(ONE WEEK LATER)

Dean is sipping coffee, reading a dusty old book from the Men of Letters Library, but not really focusing on the words in front of him. He has been having more nightmares since the run in with the Tah-tah-kle’-ah. Only this time they are about something happening to Zoey. Last night was a bad night. He dreamed that Demons held him down while they tortured and killed her, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t save her. He lets out an exhausted sign as he finally gives up on the book. 

His phone rings and Jody’s name pops up. He frowns. “Hey, Jody.”

“Hey, Dean. You okay?” she asks, hearing the strain in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine…. Just tired. What have you got?”

There is a pause. “I have the test results.”

“And?”

“You’re Zoey’s father.”

He lets out breath he didn’t realize he was even holding. “So, I guess a Vampire Paternity Test is valid. Any match on her mother?”

“No, but it was a long shot anyway. Her mom would have to have been in the data base before she was taken to Hell. And, I was thinking, what if her mother lived before the data base was even created. She could be from anywhere? Anytime? So, I asked the lab to run additional ancestry screenings.”

“And?”

“And Zoey’s maternal DNA didn’t fall into any category of race, nationality, geographic region.... The lab had never seen anything like it. They called me personally to ask where I got the sample.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Well, I didn’t tell them the truth! I sent the samples in under John and Jane Doe, deceased.”

Dean is quiet as Jody’s words sink in. They are farther from finding out who Zoey’s mother is than they realized.

“You sure you’re okay.”

“Yes…. No…. I don’t know.”

“Dean, I’m always here to talk, if you need to.”

“I know Jody. Thanks.”

*********************  
*********************

(ANOTHER WEEK LATER)

Zoey is laying on her bed, head phones on, listening to music when Dean knocks on the frame of the open door. She slides the head phones down around her neck. 

“Hey, South Paw, can I come in?” he asks quietly.

“Sure.” She sits up, turning off the music and tucking her feet in to make room for him on the end of the bed.

“How’s the arm?” Dean asks as he sits, nodding at her bandage.

“Better. Alex said to take the stitches out tomorrow.” 

“Better enough to draw me a picture?” He puts a sketch pad and several pencils on the bed between them. Zoey reaches out, inspecting the different leads. 

“What kind of picture?”

“If I described what a person looks like, do you think you could draw them?”

“I’ve never tried that before, but sure, why not. Male or female?” She asks, flipping to an empty page in the pad.

“Female.”

“Okay, what’s the first thing you think of when you picture her face?” 

“Her eyes.”

She asks him more questions about shape, size, how they are set in the face, not looking up from the page, as Dean slowly settles into describing features. They keep at it for a while. She periodically shows him the sketch, mostly just outlining basic form, prompting Dean to reveal even more details. Eventually, they just sit in silence, Dean lost in thought while Zoey fleshes out the picture. 

“How’s this?” she asks, placing the pad in his lap. 

“Hmm?” Dean murmurs, startled to find Zoey sitting right next to him, looking at him intently, her green eyes searching his. He finally tears his eyes away from hers, looks down at the drawing in his lap, and gasps. His hand trembles as he lifts up the sketch pad. Zoey captured her, every detail just as he remembers. A tear falls from his eye. 

“Who is she?” She asks gently, watching his face.

He swallows hard and takes a deep breath, composing himself before whispering in a voice rough with emotion, “She’s your mother.”

Zoey’s eyes snap back to the drawing. Dean brings a comforting hand up and tentatively places it on her shoulder. She leans into him, and he pulls her into a hug, placing a kiss on her head. This time, there are no sunglasses to hide the tears that fall from her face.


	6. Gorilla-wolves in the Mist

The door to the Bunker squeaks open, and a petite woman in a form fitting blue satin dress with long bouncy red hair sweeps through it. A couture overnight bag hangs from her elbow. She clutches her hands together. “Oh, there’s the wee lass!” she squeals with excitement.

Zoey looks to her left and right at the brothers on either side of her, and yes, she is still the only girl in the room. She looks back up at the lady who is gracefully descending the stairs on high healed boots.

“Rowena?! I though you weren’t coming home until next week?” Sam says with a large dopey grin on his face, closing the distance between them. He picks her up from the second to last step and swings her around in a large hug, giving her a longer than necessary kiss on the lips, before placing her down. 

The red head turns to face Dean and Zoey standing side by side, staring at the PDA with grimaces on their faces. “Well, when I heard that Dean has a daughter, I just had to come see for myself.” She heads over to Zoey, who unconsciously backs up until she bumps into the table, unsure of how to deal with this kind of assault. “Let me look at ya,” she delights, holding the girl out at arms length for inspection.

“This is Rowena?” Zoey asks the boys, squirming uncomfortably.

“I always new you couldn’t keep it in your pants, Winchester” she smirks over her shoulder at Dean, who pinches the bridge of his nose as if he already has a headache.

“Ro!” Sam admonishes her.

“What?! I’m merely stating fact.”

“No one asked you to,” Zoey bites back.

“Just like her father, I see.” Rowena fawns over the girl with endearment. “Oooo, I sense potential coming from you. Let me teach you witchcraft, and then I can have a coven again!”

“Rowena, enough!” Dean barks.

“Anyway, I brought gifts.” Rowena moves on, releasing the girl to retrieve her bag from where she left it on the stairs. Zoey breaths a sigh of relief and puts Dean between her and the touchy redhead.

“What is it this time?” Dean grumbles with suspicion.

“Relax, you’re going to thank me,” unzipping her bag and removing a long simple wooden box. She opens the lid to reveal two dozen glowing glass disks, each about the size of a silver dollar, neatly tucked into two rows like a rare coin collection. She removes one and closes the lid to protect the others.

Sam squints at them, recognizing the glow. “Are those…”

“Individual Demon Bombs!” Rowena proudly announces. “The original spell was extremely powerful, not very stable, and a little wasteful when the ingredients are hard to come by. I’ve titrated the recipe so that each one is enough to take out a single Demon. Much more economical. A friend of mine in Scotland custom made the glass casings.” She unceremoniously drops it on the table but it doesn’t break much to their surprise. “They are stable, and they won’t break or go off unless you say the magic words.”

“And what are the magic words?” Dean asks, interest piquing.

“Et morietur filis canis.” She says, dropping the glass again. This time it shatters and rush of magic wooshes through them.

“Really? The magic words are ‘Die, you son of a bitch?’” Zoey looks at her with surprise.

“Augh, she knows her Latin, be still my heart.”

“Nice!” Dean says in earnest, opening up the box to pick one up, the excitement of the new toy getting to him.

“And they are small enough to hide on one’s person.” Rowen continues, slipping one into Zoey’s pocket. “Sam told me we were going to have problems with Demons again, and I thought these might come in handy.”

“Ro, these are fantastic!” Sam says, pulling her in into his chest and circling his arms around her slender frame.

……………………..

Later that night, Dean is washing dishes in the kitchen when the lights flare to a blinding white light. Every bulb breaks, showering glass and sparks everywhere. The entire Bunker is plunged into darkness for 10 seconds until the back up emergency power kicks in, bathing everything red. He sighs, tossing the sponge back in the sink, and picks up a dish towel to dry his hands. 

Zoey comes skidding in through the door, shoes crunching on the broken glass. “What the Hell was that? Are we under attack?”

“No,” he says in a strained voice, as he calmly drapes the towel over the edge of the sink. Without another word he pushes past Zoey and heads down the hallway. She follows him until they come to a stop outside of Sam’s room.

Dean pounds loudly on the door. “Rowena!” He shouts, but there is no answer. “I’m going to kill them,” he mutters under his breath. “Rowena!” he shouts louder, banging the door with his fist, until a silent shock wave knocks him and Zoey back a few feet. Their ears pop and suddenly the lights are turned back on, the light bulbs are fixed, and the broken glass is gone. 

“What is going on in there!?” Zoey asks, at a total loss.

“Fifth base,” Dean answers, and heads back to the kitchen to finish the dishes.

………………………

The next morning finds the five of them in the kitchen. Dean is busy flipping pancakes while the others are at the table, making quick work of the stack he just delivered. “Can we please drop it already!” He calls over his shoulder. “I really don’t want to picture my brother doing…. that!”  
Sam snickers with a large smile on his face while he slices a strawberry over top his pancakes.

“It’s not my fault electricity is susceptible to the more passionate energy fields.” Rowena defends herself. “This was never a problem back in my day, not until Edison and his bloody light bulb came along,” she laments.

“Wait, what?” Zoey says in disbelief. “That was over a hundred years ago!”

“Yes, dear. Although I don’t look it, I am over 300 years old.” Rowena states proudly, flaunting her good looks.

“I guess we do have something in common then…. I don’t know how I feel about that.”

Dean laughs as Rowena arches an eyebrow at the girl. 

Sam’s phone vibrates. The name Eddie pop’s up on the screen. He answers after quickly swallowing a mouth full of pancake. “Hey, what’s up man?… What?… I can’t hear… Slow down!” He puts the phone on speaker, and the sounds of a war zone fill the air. 

Eddie’s voice cuts in and out as gun fire overloads the speaker. “ - came out of - - too many - attack - town - - - ” There’s a growl followed by a strangled scream.

“Eddie? Eddie?”

There is only silence before the call cuts out.

“Eddie lives out in Wallace, right?” Dean asks Sam, voice grim.

“Yeah.” Sam is staring at the blank screen on his phone.

Rowena places a gentle hand on his wrist, causing him to look up. “Go.”

Ten minutes later, Rowena is standing alone outside the Bunker, watching the dust kicked up by Baby’s tires drift away on the breeze. 

………………….

Wallace is a small town in western Kansas. It used to be the site of an old US Calvary Fort back when the frontier was still being settled, but today, the Fort is long gone. All that remains is an old cemetery and a small museum, nestled between a few ranches and a junk yard. The population swells to a whopping 50 during the holidays. 

The Impala pulls up in the center of town. Several store windows are broken, and a pickup truck has crashed into a lamp post, the driver’s torn and mangled body hangs out the windshield.

“That’s never a good sign,” Dean comments grimly.

They get out, the boy’s drawing their guns and Zoey drawing her Axe. An eerie silence greets them as they make their way into a diner. Tables and chairs are overturned. Blood splatters the walls. More dismembered bodies are strewn about. A waitress, a chef, an elderly couple. Large tooth marks and claw marks mar the victims.

“What did this?” Sam whispers.

Zoey bends down to pick up some grey fur caught on the edge of the shattered front window, and smells it. Her eyes dilate with recognition and she snaps her head up, scanning the area with a heightened sense of alarm, the grip on her axe tightening. 

“Zoey?” Dean asks.

She passes the fur to him. Dean smells it, confused that it is familiar to him. “I… know this…."

“Gorilla-wolves.” Zoey supplies.

“From Purgatory?” Dean says in disbelief. Apprehension tickles the back of his neck. This whole situation reeks. First Demons hunt Zoey through Purgatory to Earth, and suddenly there are Monsters from Purgatory practically on their door step. Monsters just can’t waltz out of Purgatory. Well, not without virgin sacrifices, lunar eclipse blood spells, or hitching a ride in a human… unless a Reaper is behind this. Could the Demons have a Reaper on their payroll?

“How do we take them out?” Sam asks.

“Silver,” Zoey supplies, hefting her axe. The metal running across the top shines brighter than the rest of the axe head. “Don’t let yourself get cornered, they hunt in packs.” The boys switch out their clips for sliver bullets. “The doors to that school across the street are busted in.”

……………………….

They enter the four room school house. Sam checks out the class room on the left and Dean takes the one on the right, both are empty. Zoey proceeds up to the next room and pauses. “Guys,” she calls out in a quiet voice. The boys join her at the entrance to the classroom. Drawings, once bright and colorful, are washed in red.

Before they can dwell any further on the slaughter, a noise from out on the street, breaks the silence, making them all jump.

They quietly make their way back to the front door to see two of the Gorilla-Wolves fighting over the dismembered remains of the driver of the pick up truck. A glance up and down the street fails to reveal any more of the beasts.

Sam raises his gun, but Zoey stops his aim with a gentle hand. 'Too loud’ she silently mouths to him. ‘Stay,’ she silently commands and walks outside before either of them can stop her.

Zoey strides into the playground in the front yard, keeping the jungle gym on her right and the slide on her left. The Gorilla-Wolf currently losing the battle for the femur catches wind of her scent and turns its head. A low growl emanates from deep within, as it starts to stalk towards the school. She thumps her chest twice, challenging the beast, who breaks into an all out charge. Wolf like jaws snapping, while it knuckle runs on its muscular forearms and kicks up the dirt with the claws on its powerful hind legs. The other Gorilla-Wolf suddenly takes notice and rushes to catch up.

The way Zoey positioned herself, the first monster is funneled between the playground equipment so it hast to come straight at her through a narrow path. It leaps into the air with 10 feet left to go, when she dives low and underneath, swinging her axe deep into its under belly, spilling its guts to the ground below. She keeps her momentum moving forward into a roll, and comes up, ready to face off with the second beast who hesitates and breaks off its charge to circle her instead. With the slide between them, Zoey adjusts the grip on her axe. The monster falls for the perceived opening and darts forward, but Zoey quickly side steps, putting the ladder between them. It tries to counter and lunges out to the side to grab her through the rungs, when Zoey strikes with the axe, cutting deep, the blade lodging in the bone through its muscular forearm. It reels back but the axe keeps its arm trapped against the ladder, while she quickly steps in, knife already drawn in the other hand, hitting home between the ribs into its heart. She yanks her blades free, ready for more as the beast crumples to the ground, blood pouring from its chest. 

The boys are dumb struck. In less than a minute, Zoey silently took out the pair like it was nothing. She jerks her head for them to join her. She keeps her voice low as they approach. “We need to sweep the town, make sure we take out the whole pack.” 

……………………..

Working as unit, going house to house, they clear out 3 more small groups of Gorilla-wolves.   
Currently, they have tracked the remaining Gorilla-wolf, the largest of the group, into an old warehouse full of farming equipment. The small group of hunters advance quietly through the maze of equipment and rooms. They hear a noise coming from a storage room. The boys pass through the doorway in front of Zoey, when the pocket door slams shut before she can enter. The slide bolt locks separating them.

“Zoey!” Dean yells, pulling on the door.

“Dean!” She tries to undo the bolt but it won’t budge. “I can’t open it!” she yells back through the window.

Just then, 5 demons emerge from the shadows. “Behind you!” Dean yells out a warning.

Zoey spins around and takes in her assailants, but before she has a chance to react, the largest of them, back hands her across face, cutting her cheek and knocking her to the ground. Dean slams his fists against the door in frustration as he can only watch through the small window as a Demon in a giant meat suit walks over and grabs her by the hair. She is yanked into a kneeling position, and Dean catches her eye as she quietly slips a hand into her pocket.

“Say good-bye to daddy,” the Demon grumbles out. 

“Et morietur filis canis,” she says, throwing the small disc at his feet. The spelled glass holding the bomb breaks and the Demon flares into nothing. 

The others are wary of approaching as she recovers and grabs her Angel blade, when a clear voice rings out “ENOUGH!” Zoey is thrown across the room into the side of a tractor. She falls into a heap on the floor, not moving. 

“No! Zoey!” Dean screams, as one of the lackies picks up her limp form, throwing her over his shoulder. The main Demon, the one with the powers, turns to look at Dean through the window, eyes flicking black. He smiles and they leave with their prize. 

“Sam, the Demons have her.”

“Come on! Push!” Sam grunts out, putting all his strength into opening the door, but it doesn’t budge.

A growl from behind them, pauses their actions. They slowly turn and see the glowing eyes of a giant Gorilla-wolf at the other end of the storage room. 

……………………

The Demons make their way to an unmarked van and unceremoniously dump Zoey in the back. Two get in the back with her while the others head upfront.

……………………

The Gorilla-wolf rushes the boys while they scatter in opposite directions. As it slams into the door, Sam notices that it buckles slightly, before the monster chases after him. 

“Sam!" Dean calls out a warning as he shoots at the monster. 

“Stop shooting!”

“What! I’m trying to save your life!”

“We need it to get out of here!”

Sam circles his way back to the door, turns, and waits for the Gorilla-wolf to almost reach him before diving to the side. The monster slams into the door again, buckling it even further. The monster gets up, shakes it off, then sets its sights on Dean. Dean starts to run as Sam crawls back to the door and is able to reach through enough to lift the bolt up and open it. 

“Dean! Come on!”

Dean runs out the door and Sam slams it shut, sliding the bolt back in place, right before the monster rams into the door again. It buckles even further, allowing a powerful forearm to reach through and make a wild grab for them. Sam aims his gun through the crack in the door and empties the clip of silver bullets. The giant forearm falls limp next to his feet. 

“Let’s go.” Dean says, not even giving himself time to catch his breath before he’s up and running to the Impala. 

They peel out of town, heading for the interstate, driving fast. “They couldn’t have gotten far.” Sam states as they approach a cross roads. “There!” he calls out, pointing to the right. Dean slams on the brakes, skids the car into a 90 degree turn, and heads down the road in pursuit of the van.

…………………

“Cuff her before she wakes up.” The head demon instructs from the passenger seat. 

One of the two demons in back gets up and tightly cuff her wrists behind her back. The movement jostles her awake. When he moves to her feet, he is caught unawares by a swift kick to the groin, causing him to double over. A second kick has him falling into the back doors. They swing open, and he tumbles out of the van onto the speeding highway below. He finally comes to a stop when Dean hits him with the Impala. 

Sam and Dean can now see the action through the open doors. Zoey does a back roll through the cuffs, managing to get her hands in front of her, in time for the other Demon to charge and smash her into the side wall of the van. Dean tries to pull up close but is forced to swerve as gunfire from the side window shoots out Baby’s windshield.

Zoey grapples with the Demon, managing to slip her cuffs over his head, pulling with all her might to choke him. He slams her into the side of the van again, but she pulls tighter, cuffs digging into her wrists, as she recites the exorcism spell. All three Demons are expelled from their meat suits, including the driver, who slumps onto the steering wheel, foot pressing into the accelerator. The van speeds up and starts to swerve wildly. 

“No, no, no, no, no!” Dean speeds up to the rear of the van. 

Zoey catches her balance as the van makes another swerve. She sees the Impala pull up as close as possible. The boys are pointing and yelling at her, but she can’t make out the words. She looks back over her shoulder out the front of the van to see a sharp turn with a rock wall coming up. Without hesitating, she turns and runs out the back of the van, jumping onto the hood of the Impala. 

The van impacts the side of the cliff and crumples with the deafening sound of grinding metal, while the Impala comes to a gentle stop moments later, Zoey still clutching at the hood. The boys get out. 

“Come on, you can let go now, I got you.” Dean speaks gently as he coaxes her fingers to release the hood so he can lift her up. "Can you stand?” he asks, leaning her up against Baby. He inspects her, hugs her, then inspects her again. 

Sam reassuringly places a steadying hand on her shoulder. “You alright?”

BOOM!

All three of them jump as the van blows up.

“Ok, we need to get out of here.” Dean states. 

“Yeah.” Sam agrees.

“Can... can I ride inside this time?”

……………………

They are quiet as Dean speeds down the highway, trying to put as much distance between them and the crash site. Conversation is not an option given the noise of the air passing through the missing windshield. It’s just as well. Each of them lost in their own thoughts after the unsuccessful rescue mission. Well, Zoey might just be in shock. He looks at her in the rear view mirror, a pained expression on her pale face. He sees a grove of trees up ahead that can shield them from the main road, so he pulls over, drawing a glance from his brother. 

“We’re stopping?” his brother asks.

“Sam, get Zoey’s cuffs off.” He gets out and heads to the trunk to retrieve the first aid kit. 

Sam helps Zoey out and seats her on a log, so he can get to work picking the locks. She can’t hide the sharp intake of breath when he succeeds. One of her wrists is cut deep and starts to bleed freely again as the tight band of metal is removed. Dean comes over, cracking an ice pack for her face where a bruise is blossoming near the cut beneath her eye. She holds it in place with her better hand while he cleans and bandages the other. She stares off at nothing while he works, occasionally flinching at the sting of the antiseptic. He cleans up, puts the first aid kit back in the trunk, staring at it blankly while the thoughts swirl in his head.

“Son of a bitch!” He slams the trunk closed for emphasis, the outburst startling the others. “This whole thing was a set up.”

“What?” Sam asks.

“They must have known Zoey was with us in Kansas. So they set loose a pack of rabid Gorilla-wolves on a near by town, one with a hunter, and close enough that we’d be the ones called in for back up. How else do monsters from Purgatory suddenly appear in a town right next to us, unless the Demons that chased Zoey through Purgatory are behind it!”

“So, all those people, are dead, because of me?” her voice is strained with emotion.

Dean meets her eyes, and sees it, the guilt crash in on her. Something he is all too familiar with. It was bad enough that the whole town was decimated and they weren’t able to save anyone, but now…. “Hey, this is not your fault.” He speaks the words that Sam and Cas have said to him, over and over through the years, even though they never helped to absolve his conscience. Saying them to his own daughter, they feel hollow. He wishes they didn’t.

“There were children ripped apart back there!” she yells.

“Zoey, Dean is right. You can’t blame yourself,” Sam adds calmly.

“Those people, that entire town, they would still be alive if I had just stayed…." She looks away and bites her lip while a tear falls down her cheek. 

“Stayed where? In Hell? Purgatory?” Dean challenges her back, she shuts her eyes, fighting the rest of the tears that threaten to fall. He kneels down in front of her, placing a comforting hand on her arm, and continues more quietly. “Zoey, these Demons, they’ve tracked you across multiple planes of existence. If these are the lengths they are willing to take to get to you, then what ever they are planning, it can’t be good.”

“Why me?”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”


	7. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Dean remember what happened to him in detail. Section is marked and can be skipped. There is also explicit content in this chapter. Yay Destiel! So I updated the tags for this pic, please read.

It’s late when they make it back to the Bunker. Rowena can tell by the looks on their faces that it did not go well. Zoey heads off to her room without a word. Dean doesn’t try to stop her. She is physically and emotionally exhausted, they all are, but Zoey is used to being on her own. Casualties are something she has never had to deal with before. She just needs time, he tries to rationalize.

“So, what now?” Rowena asks. Sam filled her in on all the details while Dean sat quietly off to the side, drinking a glass of whiskey. He downed the first two, but has been staring at the third for the better part of an hour.

“We need more help.” He finally speaks up, locking his eyes with his brother before looking up at the ceiling. “Cas,” he calls out. “I know I said I wouldn’t call you back if it wasn’t an emergency, but it’s an emergency, and we need your help. We’re safe, for the moment, but… just get here as soon as you can. Okay?”

“You think he will come? Last time you spoke, he and Jack were smack dab in the middle of that mess in Syria. It sounded serious.”

“And this isn’t?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. They are in the middle of a war zone.”

“And what we saw today wasn’t? Look, we’ve exhausted every source of knowledge available to us. We’ve combed the archives twice, Zoey spent 300 years in a library in Hell, and Rowena is the most powerful witch in existence, and we still don’t have a clue. We need Cas. Maybe he knows something or can ask about it up in Heaven.”

A flap of wings behind him causes the hairs on the back of his neck to rise up, his heart beat quickens. 

“Hello, Dean.” The low voice rumbles through him.

Dean whips his head around to see Cas, and as always, time stops. Blue eyes lock with green, and everything else disappears except for the two of them. His trench coat is sandy over his dark suit, blue tie flipped around, sex hair mussed up more than usual by desert winds.

“Wait, where’s Jack?” Sam pipes up, bringing the real world crashing back down, roaring in his ears like a giant wave.

That’s when Dean finally realizes that Cas came alone. “Dude, did you fly here? By yourself?” A hint of excitement and hope in his voice.

Instead of answering, Cas’ eyes glow bright and the shadow of his wings is cast out behind him. 

“Show off,” Dean teases coyly, causing Cas to smirk as he powers down. “How?”

“Jack. He restored me.”

“So, I guess the trip has been educational for the kid.”

“Quite. I have much to tell you, but the situation in Syria right now is… not good. It would have been unwise for both of us to leave our posts. So, Jack stayed behind and I came when you called.”

“Come here.” Dean closes the distance between them and cups Cas’ face, pulling him into a kiss.

Just then Zoey calls out from the hallway. “Guys, did you feel that?” She rounds the corner and stops dead in the doorway. Mouth agape as she stares at Cas, who is still intimately entangled with Dean.

Dean notices and breaks away from Cas, nervously clearing his throat as he rubs the back of his neck. “Zoey… this is… we were just… I mean, this is Cas” he fumbles out awkwardly.

“You’re Cas?” she whispers.

“Yeah, so Cas is…”

“An Angel, yeah I know,” her voice full of awe.

“Well, I was going to say my boyfriend…” Dean trails off. Zoey is openly staring at Cas. No, not just at him, but all around him.

“You’re… incredible,” she whispers.

“I like her,” Cas informs Dean. “Who is she?”

“Wait, Zoey, can you see him?” Sam asks.

“Um… of course I can see him,” she sasses back at the obviously stupid question, still unable to drag her eyes away from whatever she is seeing.

“No, not him him. Angel him?”

“You can’t?” She finally tears her eyes away, a confused look on her face as she finally notices the others studying her. 

Cas, tilts his head curiously and squints his eyes at her. “Some humans are perceptive enough to see us for what we are, but it is extremely rare.” He takes a step towards the girl. “Can you see other things that humans don’t normally perceive?”

“Like what?” She’s still just in total awe of him.

“Zoey, what do Hellhounds look like?” Dean asks, suddenly curious to find an answer to a question that has been floating around in the back of his thoughts.

“You know, they’re sleek and black, huge, with giant claws and red eyes, but the pups are soft and grey before their coats turn….” She trails off with a smile on her face, as if she is thinking of a pleasant memory, which can’t be true, because, Hellhounds.

“Who are you?” Cas questions her directly. He moves to step closer, but Dean puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Cas... Zoey is my daughter.”

“Your what?” he exclaims, turning the full intensity of his gaze on Dean.

“He didn’t know about me,” Zoey quickly says, trying to defend Dean. 

“But you knew about him?” Cas fires back suspiciously.

“I didn’t know Dean was my father until I met Benny a few years ago.”

“Benny’s in Purgatory,” Cas states becoming even more wary.

Dean clears his throat. “Uh, Cas? As far as we can figure, Zoey was kind of …born… in Hell, fourteen years ago. Six years ago she escaped to Purgatory and met Benny. A few months ago Demons started tracking her so she made her way through the Portal to Earth.”

“Demons?” Cas’ level of concern over Demons seems a little much.

“Yeah,” Sam confirms. “One of them mentioned a name, Khaa. We can’t find any information on him. Have you heard of him before?”

“She” Cas corrects. “Khaa is the Serpent, from the Garden of Eden.”

“The Serpent was a she?” Rowena sounds impressed.

“Wasn’t Lucifer the Serpent?” Sam interjects.

“At the time, Adam and Eve were the only two humans on earth. So, Lucifer possessed Khaa in order to gain access to the garden. The experience left her… changed. The more pressing question is why does Khaa have an interest in you?” He turns back to study Zoey.

“I don’t know,” she replies honestly.

“Who is your mother?” the Angel continues his interrogation.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Then who cared for you when you were an infant?” he presses.

“Um… Tasha.”

“Wait, who’s Tasha?” Dean furrows his brow, confused that he is just hearing about this for the first time.

“She’s a… Hellhound,” Zoey admits sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, what?” Sam blurts out this time.

“And you never thought to mention that?” Dean, doesn’t know what to think anymore. He can’t take anymore surprises. 

“You never asked,” she shrugs.

Rowena just rolls her eyes while Cas ignores them to pursue his questioning of Zoey. “Why would a Hellhound care for you?”

“Tasha said I was given to her to raise, not kill.”

“Did Tasha ever say who gave you to her.”

“Some lady, didn’t know her name, but Tasha said she spoke with respect, so she accepted her request.”

“So, you can see and speak to Hellhounds?” Sam attempts to clarify.

Zoey nods. “Tasha raised me as pack until I was old enough to hunt on my own.”

“And how old was that?” Dean snarks.

“I don’t know, four, one hundred? Take your pick. That’s when I set up base in the Library until I found the map that showed the passages to Purgatory.”

“The Library in Hell?” Cas asks in German.

“Obviously,” Zoey replies in German.

“Who taught you how to read?” He switches to Russian.

She ponders for a moment. “No one, I guess I’ve just always known,” she follows in flawless Russian.

“How many languages do you speak?” This time it’s Korean.

“I don’t know, a lot.”

“Ok, what is going on?” Dean butts in. 

The room falls into silence again. Rowena, Sam, and Dean staring at the girl and the Angel. Cas starts pacing, muttering to himself, making connections. “She would have been there….” Dean catches him say.

“Who?”

Cas doesn’t hear him. He just keeps rambling. “If they could bring Dean back to life….”

“Cas.” 

“They would have been able to bring her back as well….”

“Cas!”

“But that would mean….”

“CAS!” Dean shouts, finally getting his attention. Cas stops and looks at Dean and then Zoey. He looks at her like he is seeing something he didn’t recognize before, but now it is clear as day.

“Cas, what is going on?” Dean demands.

“Zoey, your mother… her name was Eve.”

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that follows that statement. Dean is the first to speak. “Eve, as in Adam and Eve?” His voice breaks. The woman was Eve.

“Yes, Dean.”

Zoey starts to shake her head, refusing the information.

“Zoey, you were born knowing how to speak, read, think in every language.”

“No, no… I don’t…I….”

“VOMSARG CAMLIATZA,” Cas speaks with confidence in Enochian. It means ‘Every language,’ and he can tell by her reaction that she understood him.

“You can perceive things normal humans can’t. Eve gained these abilities and more when she ate from the Tree of Knowledge and shared it with Adam. They passed these abilities on to their offspring, but over the generations, the knowledge was diminished.”

“But that was hundreds of thousands of years ago!” Sam counters.

“And when they died, Adam was raised to Heaven, while Eve was sent to Hell. The point is, Dean and Eve were both in Hell fourteen years ago. Someone must have cast a spell, giving them life, temporarily, so that they could conceive a child. So they could create you, Zoey.”

“No. You make it sound like I’m special, but I’m not. I’m just a mistake that slipped through the cracks."

“You may have slipped through the cracks but you are not a mistake,” Cas continues, “and you are incredibly special. If Khaa were to possess you and then eat from the Tree of Life, she would have the power to become a god.”

Zoey is trembling. Dean doesn’t look any better. She starts to back up and then runs from the room. Sam puts a hand up to stop Dean from following her. “Stay. You two need to talk. We’ll go after her.” He nudges Rowena and they both leave the room. 

They are alone. Dean can’t bring himself to look at Cas. The woman he raped was Eve. Sam would admonish him for still thinking of it in those terms since Dean was forced as well, but that’s not the way he works. “Why?” he chokes out. “They could have used any other dead guy in Hell throughout the entire course of humanity. Why did they pick me?” 

“Dean,” Cas tries to sooth him. “You are a powerful vessel. The vessel. Eve, despite her many abilities, was not. It stands to reason that the offspring of your mating would also be a powerful vessel while retaining Eve’s abilities.”

“Mating!” Dean shouts angrily. “Seriously? All the shit that happened in our lives! Cas, I raped her!” Dean’s chest is heaving, but it feels like he can’t get any air. “I… I… they made me….” he trails off. His ears start to ring. He think’s he can hear Cas calling his name, but it sounds so far away. He sinks to his knees, fists clenching his hair, shutting his eyes tight.

===== TW: Detailed description of rape =====

This time it’s not a dream. He can smell the sulfur, he can feel heat that threatens to burn every inch of him, he can feel hands grabbing him. He is lost in the flashback, and he can’t wake up this time. They drag his naked body off the rack, forcing him down onto his hands and knees. One of the Demons steps on his neck, so he is ass up with his face in the ground. It’s covered in filth and blood, his filth and blood. He can taste it on his lips. His arms are being bound behind his back, while other demons hold his legs still. A hand roughly grabs between them, forcing him into a cock ring. A new sense of panic rises in him, but since he can neither fight nor flee, he is left gasping for breath while his heart threatens to pound out of his chest. The hands grip him tighter, bruising his skin, and without warning or preparation, his entrance is breach by cold metal. He hears their laughter as a metal wand is pushed deeper, despite clenching as tight as he can. It’s passage burns. Tears force themselves from his eyes and then he is completely overwhelmed when the metal probe emits an electrical shock. Pain wracks through him as every muscle in his body spasms, including his dick. They keep it up, until he is erect, dripping with precome, trembling with need, but unable to come because of the cock ring. He tries to rut to release the pressure, but there is nothing to rub against, and they laugh at his fruitless efforts. The door to his cell squeaks open and a naked woman is dragged in against her will. She is screaming in a language he doesn’t know, yet anyone could understand her protests. She is forced into a similar position, directly in front of him. The foot on his neck is replace by a hand in his hair that roughly drags him over to the woman. “No! No, please!” he screams, his voice hoarse. A hand grabs his member again, causing an involuntary shudder at the contact. He is unceremoniously guided into the woman, and though he tries to fight it, a moan escapes his lips. That is, until his prostate is shocked again. They hold him against her as he bucks deeper and deeper into the woman with each pulse. The pace is relentless while his body is filled with ever building pain and pressure, until a hand reaches between his legs to remove the cock ring so he can finally come. The release is so intense his body aches with pleasure. Everything whites out, even the sounds around him disappear with the roaring that fills his ears. Thirty years of constant torture forgotten for a single moment, until he comes crashing down from his orgasm. His entire body screams in agony as his senses return, but that is nothing compared to how he shatters on the inside when his eyes focus on woman in front of him. Her cries cut deeper than any blade. He did this to her. He raped her. He would have held out forever, but they found away to turn him into one of them. His cock, now soft, slides out of her. He grunts in pain as the metal wand is roughly yanked from him, and a blood flows freely down his thighs. The hand holding him up by the hair throws him to the ground, where he lands painfully on his shoulder, unable to catch himself since his hands are still tied behind his back. He can see her fully now, quietly sobbing. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. She stops and looks at him, confused. He doesn’t know if she can understand him. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. Her face is beautiful. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. He can’t breathe. Another hand grips him tight, and his shoulder flares in pain. He panics at what they will make him do next. 

===== Safe to read again =====

“Dean! Dean!” 

Cas is grabbing his shoulder with one hand, fingers to his temple with the other, shouting his name. Dean opens his eyes. He is on the floor, in the Bunker. Tears are streaming down his face. He looks up at Cas to see blue eyes brimming with tears. He stops struggling. “Cas?” his voice is harsh, like he had been screaming.

“It’s okay, Dean, I’m right here.”

He sucks in a shaky breath, and grabs the Angel, ensuring he is real. Cas holds him close, rubbing soothing circles into his back, whispering to him that it’s going to be alright, that he is safe, that it wasn’t his fault. They stay there, on the floor, until his sobbing stops and he gains control of his breathing again, but his head still pounds and he is exhausted. Cas shifts them so they can lean against one of the bookcases, tucking Dean under his arm so he can rest his head on his chest.

“I missed you,” Dean finally speaks, voice still harsh but under control now.

“I missed you too.”

“You were gone for too long.”

“I’m sorry.”

The words cut into him. The same words he uttered to Eve. But he takes a deep breath and hangs onto reality, he hangs onto Cas. They sit in silence, fingers entwined, Cas rubbing the back of Dean’s hand with his thumb. “I thought I remembered everything, you know? But a few days before Zoey showed up, I started having nightmares.” He feels safe enough in Cas’ arms to continue. “They felt… different. More real, I guess because it was. I… I didn’t know my body was actually alive.” They sit in silence for another minute. “It was the last thing they did to me before I, before I took Alistair’s blade. What I did to her, I was no better than them. And then I broke the First Seal.”

“Dean, that’s not true. Your soul burns brighter than any I have ever seen. What was done to you is not you fault. As you so eloquently put it, ‘all the shit’ that’s happened in your life. It’s not your fault.”

“That’s not entirely true, I haven’t always made the best choices.”

“Not hard when you are only given shitty choices.”

Dean looks into his Angel’s eyes, “I love you.”

“I know.” The Star Wars reference draws a weak laugh from Dean. Cas just pulls him tighter into his embrace. “You okay?”

Dean lets out a sigh. “I’m fine.”

“Dean…” Cas chastises.

“Hey, you’re here now, I’m fine.” Cas smirks at the classic Winchester stubbornness as Dean presses a kiss into his forehead. “We should probably check on Zoey,” he says getting up.

“If she is anything like her father, I bet she’s fine too,” Cas mutters, drawing a glare from Dean.

…………………..

They find the others sitting at the table in the kitchen. Rowena made tea, but Zoey is zoned out, looking through her mug like it is not even there, the cup has gone cold. Sam just shrugs helplessly while Rowena shakes her head and gets up so Dean can sit next to the girl. He gently places a hand on her shoulder. “Hey kiddo, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replies dismissively.

Dean cringes as he feels Cas’ ‘I-told-you-so’ glare bore into him. 

“I’m just a meat suit for an ancient snake that wants to eat a piece of fruit and become a god,” she continues, still staring blankly into her tea. “So yeah, I’m fine.”

“It’s not gonna happen. We won’t let it.” Dean tries to reassure her. 

“Besides, the Garden of Eden was lost long ago, so they can’t get even get fruit from the Tree of Life,” Sam adds. 

“That’s not entirely true,” Cas corrects, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Care to elaborate on that, laddie,” Rowena prods.

“Over in Syria, Jack and I have been helping the local hunters who are having trouble with a particularly violent group of Demons. They took control of a drilling rig out in the desert, killed or possessed all the workers, and they are currently boring deep into the Earth. We think they may be looking for the lost Garden of Eden.”

“Underground?” Dean questions incredulously

“Apparently. No one has found it on Earth despite having looked. Under would be the next logical choice. The Tree of Life does not need sun, rain, or fertile soil to grow. It is literally an unlimited source of power and life.”

“How do we kill it?” Zoey demands, looking up for the first time.

“The Tree or the Snake,” Cas deadpans back.

“The Snake,” her voice is cold and determined.

“I’m not sure. If Khaa really has survived this long, she must be powerful. But the Cherubim might know.”

“The Cupids?” Dean clarifies.

“After Adam and Eve were cast out from the Garden of Eden, God placed two Cherubim at the Gates to guard against their return. They were also tasked to fend off Khaa when she tried to re-enter as well. They may know… but I doubt they will talk with me, given our past interactions.” He lets out a sigh. The Cherubim never really forgave Cas after he used one of their bows for Metatron’s spell that ended up closing the Gates of Heaven. Cas was tricked and manipulated, so they didn’t seek retribution, but they had refused any and all contact with him ever since. “I will have to ask Naomi.”

“Tomorrow, Cas,” Dean advises. “It’s been a long day.”

“May I?” Cas asks, pointing at Zoey’s bandaged wrist. Dean nods that it’s okay to Zoey, so she holds up her arm to the Angel. His eyes glow whitish-blue and light surrounds her wrist. When the light fades, she removes the bandage and is surprised to see wound is completely gone. She reaches up to her black eye and feels that the tenderness there is gone as well.

“Thanks,” she whispers.

………………………

A little while later, Dean gently knocks on Zoey’s door. He doesn’t want to wake her if she’s asleep, and after the day they’ve had, he’s about ready to pass out himself, so he is surprised when she answers. She’s laying on her bed, but sits up against the headboard as he enters. The picture of Eve she had sketched a few weeks ago from Dean’s memories is next to her on the bed. He picks it up, and holds back a shudder of guilt as he stares back at the face that has haunted his dreams the last few months, before placing it on the night stand. He sits next to her leaning back against the headboard. Neither looks at the other, both choosing to study their shoes intently.

“How you holding up?” he asks cautiously. A shrug of her shoulders is his only reply. “Yeah, me too.” The silence feels heavy. “I should have told you that Cas and I are…” Dean trails off.

“Were you worried your daughter from Hell would not approve of your lover from Heaven?” 

Dean dares a look at Zoey and realizes she’s teasing him. Suddenly the air in the room seems lighter.

“Look, I don’t care that he’s an Angel or a guy, I mean, my best friend is a Vampire, and the closest thing I had to a mother was a Hellhound…” she trails off. “I should have told you about Tasha.”

“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around that.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to hear about it, given your past experiences with Hellhounds.”

Dean grimaces at his memories, but forces them away. “What was she like?”

“She was strict,” Zoey’s eyes are lost in the past. “Expected me to keep up despite being a kid. Taught me how to hunt, how to survive.”

Dean huffs out a laugh. “You just described my dad.”

“Do you miss him?”

Dean lets out a sigh. “Yeah, I do. We had a lot of issues, but he did the best he could. Do you miss Tasha?”

“Yeah, I do. Same with the issues and stuff.” 

“I think Dad would have liked you. And Mom, she would have adored you.” Dean puts his arm over her shoulders and pulls her into his side. He holds her until she falls asleep.

………………………

Cas is standing inside his room, waiting, when Dean returns. He enters without a word, keeping his gaze cast down as he closes the door behind him. When the lock clicks shut, he finally looks up into the eyes of his lover. Green locks with blue. He doesn’t know how long they stand there staring at each other before Cas breaks the silence.

“Tell me what you need, Dean.” 

Cas’ low voice sends a shiver down his spine. Normally he would be all over his Angel, but he can’t. “I…” he stammers out. Dean doesn’t know what he wants. He’s exhausted. Physically and emotionally spent. From the flashback earlier, the constant nightmares, the constant guilt.

“Tell me what you need, Dean.”

Dean closes his eyes, fighting the sting of the tears that threaten to spill over. He feels his chest start to tighten, the beginning of a panic attack. 

Suddenly Cas is in his space, holding him by the shoulders.

“Breathe. Can you do that for me?”Dean nods and takes in a shaky breath, and feels the pressure dissipate as he lets it out. 

“Good. Good.” Cas nods along with him, rubbing up and down the hunter’s arms. “Now, tell me what you need.”

“I need you, Cas. Please don’t leave me.” His voice breaks. 

The Angel gently slides his hands up to Deans face so he can’t look away. “I love you, Dean. And I will never leave you.” He places a chaste kiss on the Hunter’s lips. It’s followed by another and another as Cas walks backwards to the bed, pulling Dean along with him, a hand snaking up to the nape of his neck. Dean parts his lips and Cas enters gently with his tongue, caressing his mouth. 

The Angel’s hands slide down his chest and come to rest on the Hunter’s belt. Cas breaks off the kiss long enough to look up at Dean through dark eyelashes, blue eyes blown wide, silently asking permission. Dean swallows thickly. He was afraid that Cas wouldn’t want him, once he found out. But here he is. His desire and devotion plain as day in that deep blue gaze. 

The Hunter nods his head, and the Angel slowly unbuckles his belt, and with it, he unlocks a damn that had built up in him these last few months. Dean takes a breath and surges forward, crashing their lips together, hands scrambling to divest Cas of his trench coat and suit jacket, pulling clumsily at his tie. Just as eagerly Cas fumbles to unbutton Dean’s flannel and pull up his shirt. 

“Fuck it!” Cas growls in frustration, and the next thing Dean knows, they are standing naked, their clothing having been Mojo’d away. Cas grabs him roughly and spins him around, throwing him down onto the mattress.

Dean lets out a whimper of need at the display. Cas taking control in the bedroom is his biggest turn on. For Cas, it is Dean’s submission. The two of them secure in the knowledge that they would never hurt the other. The Angel lays over his Hunter and grinds his pelvis into him, rubbing their silky cocks together blissfully, drawing out a needy moan at the sensation. 

“You are beautiful.” Cas’ deep voice rumbles after sucking a mark onto his neck. “You are good.” A lick behind his ear sends another shiver down his spine. “You deserve to be loved.” A nip to his ear lobe sends a jolt to his groin. “You deserve to be saved.” Their lips are crashing together again. Cas pushes his tongue into Dean’s mouth, swallowing the Hunter’s groan as he cants his hips up, seeking more pressure.

Cas breaks free, chapped lips swollen, blue eyes searching green, pleased at finally seeing Dean let go. He strokes his fingers down his well muscled chest, following behind with a trail of kisses, pausing to suck on each nipple, nibbling and teasing each perky bud until they stand erect.

The Angel continues his way down towards Dean’s cock, fully aroused it jumps at the feel of Cas’ breath on the sensitive head. He laps up a bead of precome with a delicate kitten lick to the tip, hands pinning Dean’s pelvis down onto the bed to keep the Hunter from bucking into the wet heat of his mouth. Each tease of his tongue is agonizingly blissful. He wants this to last for ever while needing more now.

Finally, Cas swallows him down to the root in one go, as a finger starts to circle his hole. Dean lets out a filthy moan as Cas pushes in, conjuring the right amount of lube out of nowhere to ease his finger through the tight ring of muscle, all the while sucking and licking his cock. One finger becomes two and then three, the stretch bordering perfectly between pleasure and pain. He cries out when Cas find his prostate.

The Angel smiles around the member in his mouth as his Hunter become undone from his ministrations. He plies his fingers against the sensitive gland while sucking the throbbing phallus deeper into the back of his throat, working Dean into a frenzy of pants and moans. 

“Oh, fuck, Cas! Yes!” The Hunter grabs his Angel’s wild hair and bucks up into his mouth. His release explodes out of him as he comes down his throat, shouting his lover’s name as his vision whites out. Cas swallows every last drop and pops off with an obscene smack of his lips. Dean catches his breath while Cas crawls up to kiss him. He can taste himself on his lover’s tongue. 

Fingers are gently slipped from his hole, and despite having just had a mind blowing orgasm, Dean clenches at the empty feeling left behind. Fortunately, he is not left wanting for long. Cas lines himself up and slowly pushes in, sheathing himself to the hilt while Dean is still relaxed from his high. Cas reaches down and swirls his fingers from the base of Dean’s cock to the tip, returning his spent member to a state of instant arousal. Dean groans as he bears down on Cas’ cock, in search of another orgasm. 

The Angel meets him with a thrust of his hips and sets up a steady pace. Cas starts to moan as he chases his own orgasm. Dean’s hands caress his lover’s sides and slide up his back until they meet soft feathers. Cas shudders. Dean pauses, eyes wide with awe as huge black wings tower over him. Feathers, so dark that they shine blue, fill his vision and the room. Cas had lost his wings before they ever became intimate, and this is the first time Dean has ever seen them physically.

“Don’t stop!” Cas manages to pant out, his voice wrecked with need.

Tentatively, Dean returns his hand to exploring the plumage, eliciting filthy moans from the Angel. “Dean! Please, Dean!” the Angel begs with an intensity he has never heard before. His hands find an area near where the wings join Cas’ back, and suddenly they are covered in slick oil. Cas’ hips stutter as he cries out. Liking this response, Dean massages into the oil glands, and slides his fingers with ease through the plumage, causing Cas to come undone. He grunts with each powerful thrust rammed into Dean. The Hunter’s swollen cock, now trapped between their bodies, glides in a puddle of pre come. 

As the intensity of their love-making builds, a bright light starts to fill the room. Green eyes look up to meet glowing blue, and Dean can’t hold back any longer. He cries out as he shoots his load between them. He clenches around Cas and the Angel explodes in ecstasy, throwing his head back, wings extended, crying out in Enochian. The room literally whites out and Dean can feel Cas’ orgasm in every molecule of his being, as his body explodes with pleasure again.

Utterly spent, Cas collapses onto Dean’s chest panting, his wings having returned to the etherial plane. The Hunter weakly brings his hand up to card his fingers through the Angel’s sweaty locks and just holds him until they can both breathe normally. Then Dean gently rolls them onto their sides, and smiles at the sated expression on Cas’ face.

The Angel’s eyes flutter open. “How are you?” He didn’t think it could be possible, but Cas’ voice is even deeper and rougher than normal.

“I should be asking you. What was that?”

“That… was amazing.” Cas sighs, a little half smile quirks one side of his mouth. With a last bit of energy, Cas cleans them up with his powers, and Dean pulls the covers over them. The Hunter falls asleep, spent and safe, entangled in his Angel’s embrace.


	8. Remnants of the Past

Before heading back to Syria, Cas reached out to Naomi. She was more than a little miffed to learn that he had his wings back while the rest of them were still footing it. But she agreed to help, hinting that it would be nice if her cooperation would be rewarded with the restoration of their wings. 

While things were better between Cas and Heaven, he was still wary. He didn’t trust that Heaven’s motivations would continue to align with his own. Keeping the rest of the Angels grounded was the safer option, but it didn’t sit well with him. The loss of their wings had cut them all deeply, and he still blamed himself for The Fall despite Metatron orchestrating the whole thing. He felt obligate to make this right. So wings were promised. However, Cas purposefully failed to mention the existence of Zoey or her parentage. He and Dean had talked about it, and the less who knew about Zoey and what she could be used for, the better.

Naomi confirmed that she had also heard rumors of a subset of Demons with a sudden interest in Khaa. In the end, she pointed him towards Mt. Angel Abbey, south of Portland, Oregon. The Monastery was old, and boasted an extensive library, which included the private collection of a former Abbot who extensively researched the history of Cherubim.

That was two days ago.

………………………..

The Impala rumbles into the parking lot of a sprawling complex of aged buildings. Several are in various states of restoration, with caution tape blocking off access to areas where there is active construction. A few monks pause to take in the trio as they exit the car, before returning to their duties. They walk to the entrance of the Guest House and enter the main office where they are greeted warmly by Father Gates.

“Come in, come in,” he says while ushering them into his office. “You must be Sam and Dean Winchester,” he says, shaking their hands in turn, already aware of who they are. “I’m sorry, miss…”

“Zoey,” she provides.

“A pleasure to meet you. Please sit.” He motions to several hand crafted leather bound chairs. “Father Luca Camilleri speaks very highly of you.”

“That is very kind of him,” Sam replies, taking a seat. 

“He was most grateful for the assistance you provided him a few years ago, and said that you are ‘Friends’ of the Church. So, how can we assist you today?"

“We were hoping to gain access to the Library.” Dean asks politely.

“Our Library is open to the public. We have one of the most extensive collections on Agriculture and Horticulture.”

“We are specifically interested in the collection that belonged to Father Walsh,” Sam clarifies.

Father Gates’ eyes widen, a look of concern flashes across his face before he recovers. “Ah, Father Walsh. He was dedicated to his studies,” Gates forces out a chuckle to hide his uneasiness. “It is fortunate for you that he was. The majority of his collection survived the fire of 1926, as it was located in his rooms instead of the Library. Well then,” the Father claps his hands together, leaving his dark thoughts behind. “I will have rooms prepared for you in the Guest House. In the mean time, let me show you to the Library.”

………………………

The Library is huge, and the restricted section that houses Father Walsh’s collection takes up two whole stacks. Besides texts in various languages, there are extensive hand written notes, organized in leather folios. There is a box of white linen gloves on the reading table for them to wear when handling the works. The three hunters decide to divide and conquer, with Sam and Dean tackling the Father’s notes while Zoey takes the foreign texts, as she is able to read them with ease. 

A couple of hours later Dean’s eyes are killing him. Walsh’s handwriting leaves much to be desired, as the small flowing penmanship is giving him a headache. It’s like trying to decipher a never ending prescription written by a doctor. It doesn’t help that they haven’t found anything useful as of yet, and there are many shelves still left to go through.

“I need some air,” he states. “You two gonna keep at it?” Zoey nods while Sam waves him off.

Dean steps out into the crisp evening air and takes in a deep breath, clearing his lungs from the musty smell of old manuscripts. After sitting in the car for the last two days, and then the Library for the last few hours, he decides to take a walk, stretching his legs and aching back. He pulls his coat around him a litter tighter to ward off the damp spring air.

He heads towards the Cafe where they had sandwiches for dinner, hoping to score some more coffee, but the sign says they are closed for the evening. He keeps walking until his path is blocked by more caution tape. Beyond is a small chapel and cemetery. While the chapel and several of the mausoleums are old, none seem to be in disrepair. He skirts the edge of the wrought iron fence and walks along a tree lined path, eventually coming to a building with warm light spilling from the windows. The carved wooden sign out front reads Benedictine Brewery.

Shit, Monks really do brew their own beer. Now this he’s got to see.

He enters a large tap room with rows of tables that match the wooden beams and paneled ceiling. At this late hour, there are only a few patrons. A young civilian couple enjoying flights, and a few scattered Monks dot the room, some reading, while others are engaged in quiet conversation. The place feels cozy and inviting. 

Dean heads over to the main bar where a middle aged Monk stands behind the counter. His baseball cap is well worn and seems out of place with his frock. The man gives him a warm smile as he sits on a handcrafted stool. 

“Welcome, what can I get you?” His voice is cheerful and his smile reaches his eyes.

“What do you recommend?”

The Monk looks him up and down. “For you, sir? I recommend the Dark Night.” He fills a glass with a dark ale from the tap. “It’ll help with the chill in the air.”

Dean takes a sip and is surprised by the rich fruity flavors while a pleasant toastiness warms him up from the inside. “Wow, that is good!” 

“Thank you. I took me a while to get this blend right.”

“You made it?”

“I make ‘em all. I’m the head Brew Master for the Abbey.”

“Well done then, Father…?”

“Grassel, Martin Grassel,” he says, extending a hand, “but everyone just calls me Father Martin.”  
“Dean Winchester.” He shakes the Father’s calloused hand. “If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t seem like a typical Monk.”

The Father chuckles, “I get that a lot. The only manuscripts I illuminate are the specials on the chalk board, and I spend more time in the fields than I do at mass. So, what brings you to the Abbey, Dean?”

“Research.” 

“Research?”

Dean nods while taking another sip of beer.

“If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t seem like a typical hunter of information.”

Dean outright laughs. “Oh, Father, you have no idea.” He lets out a sigh. “Yeah, well, I guess I’m more hands on as well.” 

“What are you researching?”

“Cherubim.”

“Ahhh, Father Walsh’s collection has brought you to our door. Well, good luck, the man’s handwriting was atrocious.” 

“So, you are familiar with his work,” Dean banters, drawing a chuckle from the man. 

“Unfortunately, yes. Let me refill that for you, I’m sure you need it.” He takes Dean’s glass and pours him a new one. “I have perused the collection before, looking for tidbits about the Garden of Eden. Horticulture is kind of my thing.”

“Ever come across any mention of the Cherubs that guarded the Garden of Eden?”

“Now that you mention it, I think I have, but not in the Library.” 

“You mean there’s more than what’s in the stacks!” They had worked all afternoon and only made it through three shelves, at this rate it will take them over a week to get through the rest.

“There are a few personal items that belonged to Father Walsh entombed with him in his mausoleum.”

“Here in the Cemetery?”

“Yes.” A dark frown passes over the Father’s face. “But I’m afraid that area is closed at the moment.” He forces a smile back onto his face.

“I noticed the construction tape,” Dean remarks.

“Yes, the construction tape.” He picks up a glass to polish despite its lack of spots. 

“You know, I didn’t see a lot of ‘construction’ actually taking place in the Cemetery compared to the other buildings. What seems to be the issue?”

“Oh, the area is… unsafe… old as it is. One of our students had an accident while tending to the grounds. Wiser to stay away for the time being.”

“What kind of accident?”

“The kind you don’t walk away from.”

He decides to go out on a limb. “You know, Father, as a hands on hunter… of information… I’ve learned how to tackle many problems head on.”

“It wouldn’t be very wise in this situation.” 

“Never said I was a wise man.”

The two men stare at each other. Each waiting for the other to give. 

“What happened?” Dean pushes.

Finally the Father sighs, and continues in a low voice. “Two months ago, Brother Tomlin had his throat ripped out. I was working in the fields not far away when I heard him scream. I ran to help, but I when I got close….” The Father’s shivers at the memory. "It was like Evil itself permeated the area. Brother Tomlin was already dead, and it took everything I had in me to find the courage to pull his body away from that place.”

“Where exactly in the Cemetery did this happen?”

“The far southeast corner. Outside Father Walsh’s mausoleum.” Again, the two men stare at each other in silence. “I do not believe in coincidence. I am aware of who are and what you do. Father Luca Camilleri is a personal friend of mine.”

“If you are having a problem, then why didn’t Father Gates ask us for help?”

“Father Gates’ faith is strong. He believes, he just doesn’t know, if you catch my drift. I told him that we should tell you but he forbade it. Part of me agrees with him. I cannot not ask you, in good conscience, to risk your life.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t have to ask.”

…………………….

The three hunters move silently through the night. They waited until after midnight before gearing up and making their way from the Guest House to the Cemetery. Along the way, Dean loses track of Zoey several times as she scouts around them. Kid is as quiet as a shadow.

They scale the wrought iron fence and enter the Cemetery. Dean does not feel any of the Evil that Father Martin described. They make their way to the far southeast corner where several of the older mausoleums stand. 

“This one,” Sam says, shining his light on the name Walsh carved into the stone above the door. 

“Nothing’s going on out here, let’s check inside,” Dean comments.

“You thinking cursed object?” Sam queries as he pulls out his picks to open the simple padlock on the door.

“Maybe,” Dean ponders the option, “but what Father Martin described sounded more like a monster attacked Brother Tomlin.” He notices Zoey has an odd look on her face. Her attention is drawn to the trees at the edge of the clearing. “Hey, Kiddo.” Dean calls, snapping her out of it. “You see something?”

“No, I just….”The lock clicks and Sam opens the door with a loud squeak. They all cringe at the noise, and wait for something, anything to retaliate. 

Nothing happens.

Sam shrugs and steps inside. Still nothing. Dean follows him in. “You coming, Zoey?” Dean asks when he sees her still standing outside the door, looking off at the trees again. 

“You go on, I want to check something out.” And just like that, she’s gone again. Dean peaks his head back outside but there is no trace of her.

Inside the mausoleum a large stone coffin sits in the center. They sweep their flashlights along the shelves, illuminating various objects and artifacts. “It could be anything.” Dean say, taking it all in.

Sam wipes his finger along the edge of a shelf. There is only a thin layer of dust. “I think they used to clean in here. That means they would have touched these items on a regular basis. Rules out cursed object.” Sam thinks aloud, more to himself than Dean. The taller hunter stops and turns to face his brother, shining the light in his face accidentally. “When did Father Martin say the attack happened?” 

“Two months ago.” Dean replies trying to shoo the light away. 

Sam raises his eyebrows while he lowers his flashlight.

“Yeah, the connection is not lost on me either.” Dean sighs, blinking spots from his eyes. He’s actually happy that Zoey decided to patrol outside, giving them a chance to talk alone. “It was the day we picked her up. Zoey was literally on the other side of the country. But, whatever is chasing Zoey… maybe it was here.” 

“If it was a Demon, I don’t think it got in here.”

“What?”

“Dean.” 

Having finally blinked the spots from his eyes, Dean focuses on his younger brother who is staring at the floor beneath him. He looks down and realizes he is standing in a subtly carved devils trap that blocks the entrance to the mausoleum. Something in here is obviously worth protecting from Demons. He looks again at the items on the shelves.

“No way,” he breathes. Then strides over to a shelf with multiple vases and other stone carvings, which he starts to push aside.

“Dean? Dean! Maybe you should put on some gloves before you touch… Wait is that a tablet!”

“Yeah!” He grabs it but as soon as he lifts it up, there is a menacing growl from the doorway. The boys turn to look but nothing is there. 

“Dean?” Sam whispers. “Is that a…" 

“Hellhound,” Dean whispers back.

Another growl echos into the mausoleum and continues in a low rumble.

“Well, at least now we know what killed Brother Tomlin,” Dean smirks. Sam just rolls his eyes at his brother.

“Hey! Leave ‘em alone!” Zoey shouts from outside, her voice clear and commanding, not an ounce of fear.

The snarling growl of the Hellhound turns into a whining grunt of recognition. 

“Tasha?” Zoey breathes out.

There is an excited bark before Zoey is knocked down onto the grass, pinned by the invisible beast on top of her. The boys race to the threshold of the door. Dean’s heart is in his throat as he expects to see Zoey eviscerated before his eyes. But instead, she is giggling with joy. It looks like she is being attacked by a swam of invisible bees as she tries to fend off, what he realizes, is a slew of slobbery kisses from the beast.

“I can’t believe it! I missed you so much!”  
“No, really, I’m fine, I’m fine. I eat plenty.”  
“How are Thrash and Kelly?”  
“Awww, they must be so cute.”

The boys are left speechless, taking in the sight before them. Zoey is talking to the invisible-to-them Hellhound while it grumbles and whines back at her. Sam squeezes Dean’s arm, gently pulling him off to the side. They try to tip toe around Zoey and Tasha, when suddenly the Hellhound’s friendly vocalizations change to an aggressive bark and growl. They immediately freeze, placing their hands up as if they are under arrest.

“Oh! Tasha, this is Sam and Dean.” Zoey casually introduces them while she sits up.  
“You do?” she questions.  
“They’re my human pack.”   
“Dean is.”  
“You what?!” she shouts, mouth hanging open, shocked by whatever it told her.  
“Really?!” She looks back and forth between Dean and the invisible beast still sitting on her legs.  
“Oh, this is awkward….” She trails off, rubbing the back of her neck nervously before changing the subject. “Anyway… what ARE you doing here?” She reaches out to put a placating hand on the beast. “Guard duty is below your pay grade.”  
“Well that makes sense. I wouldn’t want to be around them after weaning either.”  
“Us? Oh, uh…” She takes in the sight of the two brothers, arms raised, and sees the tablet in Dean’s hand. “We, uh, just need that tablet.” She tries to sweet talk the Hellhound.  
“Well, what exactly were your instructions?”  
“Uh-huh.... Uh-huh....Okay... well, if we can’t ‘take’ the tablet, could we stay here and read it?”  
“Seriously?” She sounds surprised.  
“Seriously?” She looks back at Dean.   
“Seriously?” She she rolls her eyes.   
“Fine. Go on. I’ll tell them.” 

They can hear the beast trot off into the woods. Zoey smiles and stands up, brushing dirt off, and wiping slobber off of her face with her sleeve as she approaches the boys. They just stare at her, not sure if it is safe for them to move yet.

“Relax guys, everything’s going to be okay.” They put their arms down.

“Is that Tasha, as in your Tasha?” Dean asks, gesturing at the woods where a tree is shaking violently.

“Yes. And she said Sam and I can read the tablet, as long as we don’t remove it from the mausoleum.”

A deep growl rumbles over to them punctuated by the sound of cracking wood.

“Can you read it?” Sam asks.

Zoey glances at the tablet. “Yup, I can read it.”

“Wait a minute,” Dean has a concerned look on his face. “What do you mean you and Sam? What about me?”

“Ummm...She kinda wants you to play fetch with her?” Zoey puts on her best puppy eyes. 

“Excuse me?”

A three foot tree branch comes bounding towards them and is dropped in front of Dean’s feet. He can feel the hot breath of the Hellhound panting against his skin. 

Zoey leans in to whisper, “Don’t make me look bad.” She pats him on the shoulder before taking the tablet from his grasp and dragging a speechless Sam by the elbow back into the mausoleum.

………………………….

Zoey and Sam are laying down in the entrance of the mausoleum, they have their flashlights out and their heads together over the tablet. Sam is taking pictures with his cellphone. Zoey is translating as they go. The slobbery branch is dropped at Dean’s feet for like the hundredth time, followed by an angry growl when he doesn’t immediately pick it up. 

“What? I’m playing fetch!”

“She wants you to throw the stick farther,” Zoey interprets without looking up. 

“This is a tree branch,” he mutters.

“Suck it up, Dean.”

Dean throws the limb as far as he can but his arms feels like jello. Even though he can’t see her, he can tell that Tasha didn’t run after the branch. Suddenly she growls louder.

“What now? I threw it farther this time,” he argues with the invisible dog.

“She wants you rub her belly, now,” Zoey informs him.

Dean makes a face and reluctantly reaches out until his finger brush against the invisible beast. The fur is sleek and short, like that of a giant pitbull. As he starts to scratch she flops down, shaking the earth beneath his feet. He keeps at it and hits a spot that causes her tail to beat the ground, wafting dust into the air with each strike.

“You like that, huh?” he whispers, and she lets out a contented groan. 

Zoey looks at them fondly before diving back into translating. “Hey, Sam! Get this. The Cherubim guarding the gates were armed with special swords.”

“I thought they only used bows and arrows,” he counters.

“They can be recognized by the engraved handle and the blade lights up with Holy Fire. Huh? Sounds more like flaming Angel Blades. Ever seen one light up before? 

“No.”

“Oh,” she sounds disappointed.

“What?”

“It says there were only two blades made. One for each of the Guardians of the Garden. I wonder where the blades are now?” Zoey chews her lip, deep in thought, while Sam ponders their predicament.

“Well, Cas said that none of the Cherubim who were up in Heaven survived the Fall. Only those already on Earth survived.”

“So, were these guys up in Heaven or on Earth when it happened?”

Sam shrugs his giant shoulders and takes a final picture. “Ok, we’re done.” They slide open the coffin just enough to tuck the tablet safely inside, and then return the lid. He cuts his palm, painting a symbol on the outside of the coffin and recites a binding spell to prevents anyone from opening the lid.

Tasha pounces on Dean, knocking him down and pinning him to the ground. He panics for a moment as she pants heavily in his face, remembering the last time a Hellhound straddled him. Instead of tearing him open with her giant claws, she licks him with a slobbery tongue from his neck to the top of his head. She jumps off Dean and runs over to Zoey who leans in to hug the beast. Sam goes to help Dean up off the ground as he tries to shake drool out of his ear.

“Thanks Tasha. We hid the tablet like you asked. Now no one can get to it. You cool with abandoning your post?”  
“Thanks.”  
“Ok, I’ll tell him. Give my best to the pack when you get back.”

She gives one last growl to the group before her paws tear up the dirt, as she runs to the tree line. The leaves and bushes rustle as she barrels her way in, and then a fading howl is heard in the distance.

“You ok?” Zoey asks Dean.

“No, dammit, I am not ok! I just played Lassie with an invisible Hellhound all night while you two took your sweet time reading a single tablet!”

“Next time you can translate the ancient Enochian tablet. Besides, you’re fine, Tasha had fun, and we got what we needed.”

“What did she say to you anyway?” Dean grumbles. 

“She just wanted to say sorry, about last time you two met, that was just business.”

“What do you mean the last time?”

“You know,” Zoey looks away and kicks the ground, stalling. “Fourteen years ago.…” 

“Wait? You mean… That was Tasha!”

“Hey, it wasn’t personal. She actually likes you. Says you smell nice.”

“Oh, I am so done with this night!” He turns on his heels and marches back towards the Guest House. 

……………………

In the morning, the trio heads down to the main office to inform Father Gates that they will be leaving, having found the information they needed, and to thank him for his hospitality. Before heading out, Dean inquires about the whereabouts of Father Martin, and they are directed to the fields. 

After packing up the Impala, they ride the short distance to the fields, and park along side the road. They hike through the rows of trellis and twine that are waiting to help this year’s hops grow tall and true. In the distance they can make out several of the brothers replacing rotted poles with new ones. One of them is wearing a baseball cap. 

Father Martin breaks away from the repair crew, giving gentle instructions over his shoulder, as he steps away to greet Dean, taking the hunter’s hand in both of his. 

“I am glad that you are well this fine morning. I see that wisdom has won out.”

“On the contrary, our hands on approach did. Farther Martin, this is my brother Sam, and my daughter, Zoey.”

He greets them warmly, shaking their hands as well. “So, the Evil, is it gone?” 

“Yes, and you have this one to thank for the safe and peaceful outcome last night,” Dean says, clapping Zoey on the shoulder. The deep green eyes of the girl make the monk pause for a moment. Like those of her father and uncle, there is an intensity to her gaze that draws you in. Eyes that have experienced more of life than should be possible for someone so young. If only he knew the full truth. 

“Thank you for your help. It is good to know that we are safe again in our home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I based the Monastery off of a real place: https://www.mountangelabbey.org/monastery/ The really do have a Library and Guest House and an actual Brewery! https://www.benedictinebrewery.com/our-story and there really is a Father Martin Grassel who manages the Brewery (pictured in his frock and baseball cap on the website). There really was a fire in 1926.


	9. War Games

“Okay, so what exactly happened during the Fall?” Zoey asks between bites of pizza, feet propped up on the table in the War Room.

“I was busying dying, ask Dean.” Sam lays into his brother with a classic bitch face, taking a drink from his beer.

Dean just rolls his eyes and sighs. “It was a like a world wide meteor shower. Thousands of Angels fell to Earth, their wings burned away. Some died. Some found vessels. Those who survived waged war on each other.”

“And only two of them were these Guardians of the Garden, who fell to their deaths, somewhere, on Earth,” Zoey sums up.

“This is going to be worse than finding a needle in a haystack.” Rowena announces. Sam drops is head onto his arms, slumping forward on the table.

“At least there are two needles in the haystack,” Zoey offers.

“Not helping,” Sam mutters back.

Dean puts down his beer, and sighs in defeat. They know what they need. Or at least they think they do, they are not totally sure the blades will actually defeat Khaa. Regardless, they have no way of finding them. There are only two Fire Blades, and they can literally be anywhere on Earth. Again they are faced with insurmountable odds. How many times are they going to be put through these quests and tasks! He watches the condensation slide down the side of the bottle. The drop hangs on the edge of the bottom curve, waiting, until it finally lets go and forms a miniature puddle on the table. He should have used a coaster. Picking up the bottle, he moves to wipe the spots of water on the map away and pauses, hand hanging in mid air.

Zoey must have noticed, he realizes she is calling his name, waking him from his revelation. “Dean?”

The oldest Winchester looks frantically over the table littered with pizza boxes, napkins, paper plates and drinks. He slides a pizza box off the table with a sweep of his arm.

“Dean! What are you… there’s still pizza in that!” Sam chides.

“Help me!”

The others must have heard something in his voice. Desperation? Madness? They rush to grab bottles and plates before he breaks something or creates an even bigger mess. Finally the illuminated map of the world is clear.

“Kevin said this whole place went on lock down and lit up like a Christmas tree during the Fall. Sirens, lights, everything, including the map.”

“So?” the younger brother gently prods.

“So! It’s here! The information we need. It’s all hooked up to computers and what not, we just need to access it.”

“How do we do that?” Zoey asks.

……………………

“Hey, Bitches!” a voice calls out from the top of the stairs. 

“Charlie! Thanks for coming.” Dean embraces her when she reaches the bottom of the stair case. 

“Hey, guys.” A beautiful brunette follows a step behind the red head, her lithe figure descending gracefully. 

“Hi, Tiffany.” Sam gives her a squeeze around the shoulders. Rowena gets her hugs in as well.

Two years ago, Tiffany’s family left her an old farm house just outside Lawrence. When she started renovations, it disturbed some sprits who started causing a whole lot of chaos. Charlie caught wind of the case when the boys were out of town and swooped in to save the day. The girls have been inseparable ever since. Over time, their relationship started to heal Charlie, mending the wounds that the Apocalypse caused, and she slowly regained that special light in her eyes, reminding Dean more and more of their Charlie of old. 

“So, what’s the emergency, did the bunker get a virus when you tried to download some porn?” the redhead teases. 

“Uhhh, no. Charlie, Tiffany, this is Zoey.”

“Oh? Hey, nice to meet you.” Charlie says, taking in Zoey’s appearance. She shakes the offered hand while looking over her shoulder at Dean with a sheepish grin to apologize for the pornography remark as she realizes the girl’s age.

“Zoey’s my daughter.”

“Dean, I didn’t know you had a daughter.” Tiffany beams at the girl.

“Neither did I until a few months ago.”

They pass curious glances between them. 

“It’s complicated,” Dean admits. “Why don’t you sit and I’ll explain.” 

……………………….

An hour later, Charlie and Tiffany are up to speed and reeling. 

“And you're the only one who knows how to hack into this place,” Dean proclaims.

“What are you talking about?” Charlie starts to argue. “I’ve never…”

“Not you you, but other you, our you from before,” he clarifies.

Zoey just stares at him, then whispers to Sam, “I know I speak a zillion languages, but what the hell did that even mean?”

Sam sighs. “Zoey, Charlie’s from an Alternate Universe, from an Earth just like ours, except the Apocalypse happened there. A few years back we all crossed paths, and well, this Charlie’s here now.”

“Where’s the other Charlie?” Zoey asks, trying to keep up.

“She’s dead,” Charlie states. The group sits in silence. All lost in different dark thoughts. Charlie taps her fingers on the table, the map of the world glowing beneath her. “Okay, let’s crack this baby open.”

………………………

Zoey watches Charlie with fascination as she connects wires from under the table to her laptop. Despite being able to understand, read, and speak every language, Zoey has had trouble with technology. It took her a while, but with Sam helping her, she eventually figured out how to use her phone to make calls, text, look things up on the internet, and listen to music. Computers were even more of an enigma. 

“So, you can really talk to these computers?” 

“Yup.” Charlie starts to type on the keyboard. “I take it computers aren’t your thing?”

“Not really. Books are more my speed.”“Don’t get me wrong, I love a good book too. The Hobbit is my favorite. Honestly, anything by Tolkein. How about you? You got a favorite read?”

Zoey thinks for a moment. “The Deconsecrated Pillars in the original Etruscan are pretty good.”

Charlie stares dumbfounded at the girl until her computer beeps at her. “I’m in,” she whispers. “Guys! I’m in!” she calls to the others who have been catching up in the Library. “So, what am I looking for?”

“May 21st, 2013.” Dean replies.

Charlie taps several keys and then waits. Nothing happens. 

“Well?” Dean asks impatiently.

“Give it time, it’s running a simulation for everything recorded that day.” Suddenly the table erupts with red lights scattered all across its expanse and then goes blank again. “Whoa!”

“Go back, go back! That’s what we need.” Dean can’t believe how many dots appeared. It looked like the whole map flared red.

“Can you slow it down?” Sam asks, getting closer to the table for a better look.

“Give me a moment.” Charlie isolates the time range for the fall and then loops it on a continuous play back. A hush drops over the group as they watch red dots appear and blip out all over the world. Every continent. Every ocean. 

“I remember that day, those were all Angels?” Tiffany whispers, tentatively reaching out to brush her fingers across the table.

“There must be hundreds of thousands of them,” Zoey calculates.

“Och, how are we going to find our two Cupids in that lot?”

The enormity of what they have to sift through starts to hit them. Needle in a haystack indeed.

“Hang on. There’s a ton of data here.” Charlie’s screen had exploded in a massive scroll of text. 

“What kind of data?” Sam asks. 

Charlie clicks through screens upon screens of text that flash past for each of the red impacts recorded. “Date, time, latitude, longitude, elevation, velocity, mass, energy signatures… this recorded everything. There are parameters I don’t even understand here.” She pauses, scanning the screen before speaking with confidence. “No worries, I got this. I just need to write a code that can narrow the field down to what we’re looking for.”“You can do that?!” Zoey looks at the red head in awe.

“Kiddo, I can do anything.” Charlie cracks her knuckles. “Bring me caffeine.”

…………………….

A few hours (and many cups of coffee) later, Charlie has her analysis program sorting through the data. 

“How long is it going to take?” Dean asks.

“As long as it needs to,” she replies, clicking through several screens of data. “There is a lot of old programing and files here.” She continues to explore the database. “Hmmm, that’s odd.”

“What?” Sam asks.

“Well, the term Computer Science wasn’t coined until 1962 by George Forsythe, but there is a file here labeled CS-1956.”

Sam gets a quizzical look on his face as he tries out the file name, “CS-1956, CS-1956, CS… Charlie NO!!!” 

But Sam is too late, Charlie has already clicked on the file, and the room is flooded in a flash of blinding light. When the spots clear from their vision they are in a stone hallway, stretching off into the distance in both directions, dimly lit by flaming wall sconces that are few and far between. 

“Damn it!” Sam curses under his breath.

“What the Hell just happened?” Charlie asks the group.

“CS-1956 doesn’t stand for Computer Science, it stands for Cuthbert Sinclair,” Sam states.

“Who is Cuthbert Sinclair?” she says, cringing at the mouthful of a name.

“Wait! You mean Magnus?” Dean angrily voices. Sam gives his brother a knowing glare, eliciting a string of curses from Dean.

“What is going on? Who are you talking about? Where are we?” Tiffany is definitely starting to freak out. Charlie puts her arms around her to calm her down.

“Cuthbert Sinclair was expelled from the Men of Letters in 1956. He was their Master of Spells, in charge of creating the Bunker’s warding and… other… magical defenses.”

“He was also a psychopath that collected supernatural items and tried to kill us.”

“Well, he tried to kill me, he wanted to add you to his collection,” Sam corrects drawing glances from the girls and a bitch face from Dean.

“That still doesn’t answer where the Hell are we!” Tiffany throws back.

“We must be in one of his magical dimensions,” Sam reasons.

“Great!” Dean mutters. “Rowena, can you get us out of here?”

“Maybe, if I knew where and when here is, and if I had any ingredients.”

“Quiet!” Zoey orders the group. She’s kneeling down, hand splayed out on the floor, eyes closed, head cocked towards one of the passages, listening. Dean strains his ears but can’t hear anything. She stands, opening her eyes, staring into the darkness at the end of the hall.

“We need to go. Now.” She starts to usher them down the passage.

“What is it?” Dean asks.

“Do you really want to stick around and find out?” She meets his eyes, completely serious.

Just then a deep angry bellow echos from the distance, and all heads snap around to look down the hallway. Hoof beats pound the stone, getting louder and louder. 

“Okay, okay. Run!” Dean commands as he looks back to see a giant horned beast emerge from the shadows. It practically fills the entire width of the passage as it gallops straight for them, gaining ground with each stride.

“In here!” San shouts, herding the others through a narrow archway into a side passage. He jumps in last, right before the beast barrels past. 

“What… was that?!” Tiffany pants.

“That was… a Minotaur.” Rowena answers, equally out of breath.

“You mean, the Minotaur!” Dean exclaims.

“No, Theseus killed that one. This is just a cheap replica.” 

“Cheap or no, those horns looked real enough!” Charlie is still holding Tiffany’s hand.

“Wait, does that mean we are the Labyrinth?!” Sam asks.

“Not the Labyrinth…”

“Just another cheap knock off, yeah, we get it,” Dean interrupts. “Great. Is anyone armed?”

The group takes stock of their weapons, and find themselves wanting. Charlie and Tiffany have a set of matching silver pocket knives (“Hey, the couple that slays together, stays together,” Charlie replies when Dean gives her a look), and Rowena has a set of really sharp hair sticks that she pulls from her bun, releasing her red locks. Thankfully, Zoey has half a dozen blades on her, and passes them around, everybody taking one.

Just then the Minotaur slams its head into the narrow doorway, startling the group. It apparently found a place to turn around and double back. It swings its head, knocking a few bricks loose, trying to force its way in through the narrow archway. 

“Oculi malediceres inimicis!” Rowena shouts. The hair sticks fly from her hand and into the eyes of the Minotaur, blinding him. The screech it lets out is deafening in the small space, and they all grab their ears. It thrashes wildly bringing down more bricks. Soon it will make it through the archway, possibly bring the ceiling down upon them as well.

“Move!” Dean barks.

The group barrels down the passage, putting as much distance between them and the enraged beast as possible. Eventually, it’s screams become a distant echo before finally stopping. They pause at an intersection to catch their breath. 

“Do you think it’s dead?” Charlie ask Rowena.

“I don’t think so, lassie.”

“You slowed it down, and it will have a harder time hunting us. You did good.” Sam takes her hand and gives it a kiss.

Tiffany glances down the passages. “How are we going to find our way out of here?”

“You assuming Magnus even put in an exit. I doubt he did.” Dean says pessimistically, remembering his hideout sans windows or doors. He looks down the passages. None seem promising. 

Zoey joins him at his side. “This way,” she finally announces.

“Why this way?” he asks.

“Why not?”

……………………………..

Two hours later and the group is still trudging though the labyrinth. With all the twists, turns, and dead ends, not to mention the occasional collapsed passage that forced them to either double back or attempt to squeeze their way through, Dean is thoroughly lost. Currently the boys are shifting some boulders to open up a partially blocked passage enough for them to crawl through.

“Why are we doing this again?” he complains, pausing to wipe sweat from his brow. He would kill for some water right now.

“Because this is the best option to get to a new section of maze,” Zoey explains.

“Are you sure? I mean, I have no clue where we are.” Tiffany, Sam, and Rowena nod in agreement.

“She’s right, Dean. Everything behind us is a bust,” Charlie confirms.

“We must have been down a hundred passages, how can you two keep it all straight in your heads?”

“Hello, super genius!” 

Dean rolls his eyes at the humble redhead, then turns to Zoey. “Well, what’s your excuse?”

“Parts of Hell are like this.” 

She says it so calmly, it catches him off guard. Like this is normal; but then again, when has normal even been synonymous with Winchester. 

“Dean, quit complaining and help me with this.” Sam is trying to shift the last large boulder blocking their way. Together they manage to move it only 6 inches, but it’s enough. One by one they crawl through the opening on their hands and knees. 

The torches in their immediate vicinity are out, as are those in the nearest side passages, but an orange glow from up ahead leads them on. Suddenly the floor shifts beneath their feet. For a precious second nothing happens and then the entire section they are standing on collapses without warning. Large and small stones fall with them. Dean hears a splash before he hits icy cold water. 

Underwater, drowning, fighting to breathe. He starts to panic. Michael! No! He is possessed by Michael. How? He tries to swim but he knows he will never reach the surface. The burning in his lungs, the panic of suffocating, stretched out into eternity. He can’t do this again. Wait, that’s not right. Jack killed Michael. 

His knee collides with the edge of a large stone, and the pain snaps his mind back to the present. Magnus. Labyrinth. Minotaur. Falling. He is surrounded by darkness and muted voices and splashing as the sounds travel through the water. His lungs burn. Moving more carefully, his feet finally connect with solid ground, and he pushes in a direction he hopes is up. His head breaks the surface into a dimly lit cavern and he takes in a huge lungful of air. 

“Dean!” 

He spins around trying to find Sammy. He see’s Tiffany supporting the unconscious form of Charlie, a large gash on her forehead is freely bleeding. They are making their way towards a shallow area and dry land. He turns around again to see his brother take in a large breath and dip under the water, he emerges moments later and flicks wet hair out of his face.

“Dean, Rowena is stuck. I can’t get her leg out and help her breath at the same time.”

Dean swims over to see Rowena trapped about 2 feet below the surface. She looks up at him with fear and pain in her eyes. 

“Where’s Zoey?”

“I don’t know!”

Tiffany screams, and the brothers turn as one. On the shore stands the blinded Minotaur. He lets out a piercing bellow that echos around the cavern. He starts to stomp dangerously towards the girls, forcing Tiffany to drag Charlie back out into deep water, but before he can reach them, Zoey comes out of nowhere, and launches herself at the beast. She embeds her dagger into its thick neck and holds on to it like a pommel as the monster thrashes and bucks, trying to dislodge the tiny hunter from its back.

Sam grabs Dean on the shoulder. “Rowena first, then help Zoey!” Sam yells before disappearing under the water again to give Rowena another breath. With one last look at his daughter, Dean dives under the surface. 

Rowena’s left leg is crushed between two stones. Dean swims down, placing his feet against the taller stone and his fingers in the crack near her leg, then he pushes out with all of his strength. At first, nothing happens. Dean worries that he can’t get enough purchase to move the rock. His vision starts to turn grey at the edges when he suddenly feels the taller stone shift slightly. Another push and it rocks away for a moment. Just long enough for Sam to free Rowena’s leg and pull her up to the surface.

When he joins them, he is sputtering and catching his breath all over again. Sam is holding Rowena up, her pale face a mask of pain. A pool of blood colors the water around her leg where the bone sticks out through the shin. 

A scream from the Minotaur draws his attention back to the fight. Zoey has somehow managed to stay atop the beast, which is now peppered with more stab wounds, bleeding freely down its neck. Dean swims as fast as he can until he hits the shallows, and then trudges his way onto shore, his wet clothes weighing him down. As the monster rears up, he sees an opening and slashes its Achilles tendon.

As the leg gives out, the Minotaur falls back and to the side, Zoey flings herself off before she is crushed beneath it, and rolls to a stop in the sharp gravel at the edge of the water. Before the beast can recover, Dean slices its throat, spilling dark blood onto the shore, finally silencing the monster. 

Catching his breath he turns to Zoey. She is covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but seems to be ok as she slowly stands up. On the other end of the shore Tiffany is struggling to get Charlie out of the water. He heads over to help, carrying her the rest of the way onto dry land. Sam lays Rowena down next to Charlie, and the witch cries out as her leg is jostled. The six of them are shivering at this point, and Rowena is starting to go into shock from pain and blood loss. 

“It’s going to be ok, you’re going to be fine,” Sam reassures her.

“H-heart-t-t-t,” she stammers out, looking at the Minotaur. 

“Heart?” Sam questions.

The witch nods.

“You need its heart to get us out of here?” Dean asks.

Another nod.

“Coming right up,” Zoey announces. Without a second thought she grabs her knife from where it was lodged in the back of the beast’s neck, and slices up under its rib cage. Still holding the knife, she plunges both arms in up to her elbows and fiddles around. After a few min she successfully pulls out the organ, blood dripping down her arms and splattered all over her clothes, and carries it over to Rowena. 

“Now what?”

“E-everyone t-t-t-touch.”

Zoey kneels in front of Rowena and holds the heart out. Sam takes both their hands and places them on the heart. Dean picks up Charlie and does the same as Tiffany joins them. 

Charlie lets out a groan and her eyes start to flutter open. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she weakly states. Definitely a concussion. 

“Just keep your eyes shut until this next part is over, love,” Tiffany advises.

Rowena pauses and looks up at Zoey. “Y-you have t-to say sp-spell.” 

“Me?” Zoey exclaims incredulously.

“You c-c-collected heart-t.” 

“Great,” the girl mutters, but she leans in so Rowena can whisper the spell in her ear. “Cor autem dolum, revertetur ad nos cor nostrum in domum suam,” she repeats. 

The cavern is flooded in a flash of blinding light. When the spots clear from their vision they find themselves back in the Bunker, in the middle of the war room. All at once Zoey cries out in pain, Charlie vomits, and Rowena passes out.

“Ro? Rowena!” Sam gently shakes her but she doesn’t stir. “Dean, we need to get her to a hospital.”

“Yeah, Sam, I know. Zoey, you okay?” He passes Charlie off to Tiffany and grabs the young girl by the shoulder. 

“I’m fine,” she states through gritted teeth, “just wan’t expecting it to hurt. Go on, I’m fine.”

“Dean, come on!” Sam is already half way up the stairs. 

“You two ok?” He asks Tiffany.

“Yeah, just need to get this one some aspirin and a bandaid,” she says, hugging Charlie closer. “Go help Rowena.”

With one last look at Zoey, he hurries after his brother.

…………………………….

Dean returns to the Bunker to find Tiffany and Zoey having canned soup in the kitchen. They are cleaned up, and snuggled in cozy hoodies and blankets.

“Dean!” Tiffany spots him in the doorway. “How’s Rowena?”

“Good. Surgery went well, but they are keeping her overnight. Sam stayed with her. How’s Charlie?”

“She’s fine, sleeping in a spare room. In fact, I should go check on her again, make sure she knows what year it is.” She gets up, placing her bowl in the sink before heading out.

“How are you?” he asks Zoey. She is sporting about a zillion butterfly bandages. 

“I’m fine. I think Tiff used a whole box of bandaids on me.”“I mean, how are you feeling after that spell.”“Oh, that. Yeah, that was… It felt like it ripped everything I had out of me.”“That bad, huh? It was a big spell, you teleported six people between dimensions.”

“Rowena makes it look so easy.”

“She is probably the most powerful witch alive, maybe ever.”

“But, she’s gonna be ok, right?” she looks up at him with real concern in her eyes.

“Yeah, she’s gonna be fine.”

“Good,” she says with relief. Zoey looks Dean up and down. He’s still in his clothes from the earlier, ripped and muddy and still damp. “Go get washed up and I’ll make you some soup.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Charlie! But I really love original Charlie. Apocalypse verse Charlie is so sad, understandably. I wanted to give her a happily ever after, and make her more like original Charlie. Enter Tiffany! Based on Tiffany Dupont, the actress that plays Gilda in LARP and the Real Girl.
> 
> I titled the chapter War Games after the 1983 movie with Matthew Broderick. Loved that movie growing up. The way the map table in the War Room in the Bunker lights up reminds me of the computer playing Global Thermonuclear War.
> 
> and thank you to Google translate:
> 
> Cor autem dolum revertetur ad nos cor nostrum in domum suam  
> Heart of the maze return us to the heart of our home
> 
> Oculi malediceres inimicis  
> pierce mine enemy’s eyes


	10. Demons and Angels

Sam taps on the glass, getting the attention of the the nurse behind the barrier. He slides his badge through the slot and waits for her to check it. After a minuet, he is buzzed through the security door and his badge is handed back to him. As he slips it back into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, the Director comes down the hall to greet him.

“Agent Smith.” Her tone is very down to business. This may be more difficult than anticipated.

“Dr. Carole, thank you for meeting with me,” he says, putting on as much charm as possible.

“What brings the FBI to our hospital today?” she asks, leading him into her office and offering him a seat.

“Jane Doe 4352. She arrived here yesterday?”

“What about her?”

“I believe she is our missing witness in a critical case. Her name is Zoey.” He takes a picture out of his file and slides it across the desk.

The doctor sighs. “That’s her alright. But I don’t know if she’s going to make a reliable witness.”

“What do you mean?”

Dr. Carole pulls up a video feed to a padded room. Zoey is inside, sitting in a corner, dressed in a white T-shirt, grey sweat pants, white socks, rocking back and forth. 

“What happened to her?” He leans forward to get a better look.

She notices sincere concern in his voice, and responds with a little more compassion. “The police picked her up two nights ago down at the train depot. Concussion, blow to the back of the head. Covered in blood, most of it not hers. Armed with a knife, also bloody. They’re still not sure if she is the victim of a crime, or the perpetrator. When she came to, she was combative and hallucinating. The police couldn’t handle her so she was transferred here. It took 4 orderlies and enough drugs to knock out two grown men just to get her under control.”

“Did she say anything?”

“She kept going on about Demons and someone named Dean.”

“Dean is my partner. He was protecting her. They both went missing 3 days ago.”

“I’m sorry. Did Zoey have any mental illness prior to her disappearance? Any history of substance abuse?”

“No.”

“Then it’s possible the psychosis is a temporary effect of the concussion, or from the trauma of whatever she witnessed.”

“Dr. Carole, Zoey is our only lead in an ongoing investigation, and now the disappearance of my partner. She has no legal guardians. The Bureau would appreciate it if you would release her to my custody.” He knows it’s a long shot, but he puts on his best puppy dog eyes.

“I’m sorry agent, but that is not going to happen. Besides being a minor, and being under a mandatory 72 hour observation, she is in no condition to leave this hospital at the moment. However, if you fill out the transfer, legally she’s all yours in… 39 hours,” she says, checking her watch.

“I understand. Can I at least speak with her?”

“She’s not making any sense, but maybe a familiar face will help her start to put the pieces together.”

“Thank you. I will need someplace private to talk with her, without cameras or listening devices.”

“You can use my office. I’ll have the orderlies bring her up. I hope you find your partner, Agent Smith.”

A few minuets later, Sam hears a commotion outside the door, while he is waiting for Zoey to be brought up. Two orderlies are running past and shouting about a female patient trying to escape.

……………………..

The first orderly to round the corner doesn’t even see the first that knocks him out cold. His partner trips over the body landing hard on his hands and knees. He barely registers the elbow right before it connects with his temple. 

Zoey stumbles with the force of the blow and leans heavily against the wall as the room spins around her. Focus. She grabs the man’s arm and drags him over to a locked door, roughly shoving his thumb onto the fingerprint scanner. Click. She yanks open the door and enters the courtyard. There’s a fountain, several benches, and a meandering path through the flower beds. Beyond is a 12 foot brick wall topped with barbed wire that encloses the area.

After cursing her lack of shoes, she takes a deep breath and charges the far corner as fast as she can. Jumping from one wall to the next, she reaches the top and throws herself over. The barbed wire pinches her palms and snags her shirt, tearing through fabric and flesh, but fails to stop her from reaching freedom on the other side in the form of a heap on the ground.

Zoey takes another moment to catch her breath and take stock. The cuts on her palms and stomach are bleeding freely but aren’t too deep. Thankfully nothing is broken. Now if only the earth would stop spinning. She forces herself to stand up, using the wall for support. Shouts from the hospital staff on the other side of the wall spur her on as she runs into the surrounding forest.

Zoey’s certain they are following her. She knows she is making too much noise, her trail is too easy to follow. She can feel them creeping up behind her, but every time she looks over her shoulder no one is there. Run. She has to keep running. She plows through the under brush until she runs smack into a tree and gets tangled up in its branches. They grab her and she fights back.

“Zoey! Zoey! It’s me, Sam! Calm down!”

Sam? It’s definitely his voice. When did Sam become a tree? The branches are wearing a suit jacket and the trunk is sporting a white dress shirt and tie.

………………………

Sam holds on to the girl until she stops struggling. Gently shushing her and reassuring her that she’s safe. She slowly turns her head up to face him. Her eyes are dilated and darting all over the place. She reaches up with a bloody hand to poke him in the chest. 

“You’re a squishy tree.”

He grabs her hand and turns it over to reveal the cuts from the barbed wire, the front of her t-shirt is torn and bloody. 

“Are you okay?”

Zoey looks at her bleeding hands. At first she is confused, but then she is angry. “That wall was mean to me.” She shakes him off and starts to storm off back toward the hospital but Sam grabs her again. 

“Okay, Tiger. We can pick a fight with the wall later. Right now we need to get you out of here, before they find you.”

“The Demons?”

“No, the doctors. Come on.” He takes off his wool coat and drapes it over her shoulders. It comes down to her ankles.

………………………

They make it back to the Impala without being seen. Sam sits Zoey down in the passenger seat, then walks around to the drivers side. Zoey does a double take when he sits down, surprised by his sudden appearance on the other side of the car. 

“Sam?” she questions.

“Zoey, what happened? Where’s Dean?”

“Dean!” She shouts in the small space. “They have him!”

“Who has Dean?”

“Demons.”

“Okay, where do they have him?”

Zoey pauses to think, eye’s searching back and forth. "In the Wood.”

“In the wood? In the woods?”

“Yes... and yes. Wood comes from woods.”

“How many drugs did they give you?”

“Uh… all of them?” She smiles, hoping that was the right answer.

This is not going to be easy. “Zoey, how did you escape the Demons? The police found you in a freight yard.”

“Yeah, ‘cuz I took the train,” she replies like its obvious.

“You took the train? From the woods?”

Zoey leans in close to whisper to Sam. He leans in to listen. “It was windy.” She blows into his face making his hair move. “You’re windy.” She laughs at her joke.

Sam frowns, he doesn’t have time for this. “Was Dean on the train with you?”

“No, he’s still in the wood.”

Giving into his frustration, he raises his voice. “Zoey, focus! Dean is missing! I need you to help me find him!” But it just causes Zoey to get upset. She grabs her head, she starts to rock back and forth. Sigh. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, Zoey. Please calm down.”

She stops her rocking but refuses to look at him. He waits and waits but she doesn’t acknowledge him.

“Zoey?” he gently probes.

“Sam!” she shouts with surprise, apparently she had forgotten that he was even there, but then she’s crying.

“Zoey, what’s wrong?”

“My hands are missing. Where did they go?” She looks frightened as she raises her arms that are swimming in the long sleeves of his coat. Sigh. Sam pushes the sleeves up her arms uncovering her hands. Zoey smiles at them. This is not going well.

……………………………..

“I’ve got her,” Sam speaks into his cell phone.

“What happened?” Rowena replies.

“I have no clue. She broke out of the mental institution right when I showed up. I managed to catch up with her and now we are both holed up in a motel.”

“Does she know where Dean is?”

“Maybe? I don’t know. She was so pumped full of drugs she wasn’t making any sense. She’s out cold right now.”

“Nothin’ you can do until she sleeps it off then.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh.

“I know your worried about him, but you’ll find him. You always do.”  
“How are you, are you ok?” He changes the subject. He wasn’t happy about leaving Rowena alone at the bunker with her broken leg. However Charlie’s computer program worked, and tracked the Cherubim in question to North Dakota and Colorado. Sam and Charlie went north while Dean and Zoey headed west. North Dakota was a bust. They found the impact site, but it was empty except for traces of sulfur. Apparently the Colorado site was not as empty. Now Dean is missing, and while Zoey is cleaned up, and bandaged, asleep on the bed, he has no idea if she can remember enough to find him. 

“I’m fine, Samuel. Charlie stopped in when she got back and Tiffany has been here every day.”

Zoey stirs and starts to wake up. 

“Ro, she’s waking up. I’ll call you back.”

“Sam?” Zoey’s voice is weak. She starts to sit up, but grabs her head. 

Sam comes over to help her. “Hey, go slow.”

“My head feels like it’s gonna explode… and I think I might throw up.”

“Just breathe. You have a pretty bad concussion. And you’re still coming down from whatever drugs they gave you at the Mental Ward.”

“Mental Ward?”

“You don’t remember? You were locked up for a day and a half. I was trying to get you released when you broke out.”

She swallows thickly. “Everything is fuzzy. It’s just bits and pieces.” She looks around the room and takes in their surroundings. “Where’s Dean?”

Sam sighs, “I was hoping you knew.”

“What?”

“Dean left me a message. He said you guys had a lead. That was 4 days ago. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I only found you because the police picked up a Jane Doe matching your description. They found you in a freight yard, covered in blood, going on about Demons, so they put you in a mental ward and pumped you full of drugs. What happened?”

“I… I don’t know.” She tries her best to piece together what Sam just told her “Thinking hurts.”

“Okay. Let’s just take it slow. Do you remember where you and Dean went?”

“No.”

“Do you remember the train? You said it was windy.”

“No... wait,” she concentrates, a pained look on her face. “It was night.” 

Sam heads back over to his computer. “Good, good. What else do you remember? How did you get on the train?”

“Uhhh... I jumped.” The memory paints a shocked look on her face. “From a bridge,” she continues incredulously.

“What was it made of? Metal, concrete…"

“Stone.” She says right away with confidence. “The stones were loose. I slipped. I think that’s when I hit my head.” She reaches back to feel the stitches placed at the hospital.

“Okay. So we are looking for an old stone bridge that passes over train tracks. You kept saying Dean was ‘in the wood.’” 

“He’s in the woods?”

“At first I thought that’s what you meant, but you were using the words WOOD and WOODS differently." 

“Sam, I don’t know.” Zoey can’t hide the defeat from her voice.

“It’s okay. How about any sounds, any smells?”

“Oh!” She points and clenches her eyes shut, trying to remember, searching for the right word. “Uhh... uhh... that stuff, sawdust!”

“Got it! There is an abandoned lumber mill near a freight line a few hours north of here. And there was a train on that line 2 nights ago that stopped at the freight yard where you were found.”

“Is there a bridge?”

“Not on this map.” He clicks through several other websites. “But there is one listed on a trail map for the area.” 

……………………

Sam looks over at Zoey. She’s asleep in the passenger seat of the rental car. He knows she not in the best shape for acting as back up, but he needs her to hopefully remember what happened once they get to the lumber mill. A familiar sight greets him as he pulls off the road near a hiking trail, and he smiles as he parks next to the Impala. At least they are on the right track. Zoey wakes up when he shuts off the engine.

“Well, you were definitely here.”

Zoey follows Sam gaze and sees the Impala. They get out of the car and head over. Sam opens the trunk to gear up and hands Zoey an Angel Blade. 

“Anything look familiar.”

“A bit.”

“How’s your head?”

“Pounding.” 

“You up for this?”

“I’ll be fine once we find Dean.”

“Yeah, me too. Come on.”

……………….

Twenty minutes up the trail they come to an old stone bridge that passes over train tracks. Sam finds blood on the wall next to some recently disturbed stones. 

“This must be where you hit your head.”

Zoey’s eyes glaze over as she starts to remember.   
……She is being chased by a pair of Demons through the woods. The bridge is up ahead and she hears the train already passing beneath it. There isn’t any time to hesitate if she’s to reach it before it passes. She sprints the rest of the way and jumps up on the wall, but a stone comes loose under her foot and her feet come out from under her. She falls, unfortunately hitting the back of her head on the wall, but lucky enough to land on top of a freight car and not between them……

Zoey looks back into the woods. “I think it’s this way.”

They continue on, and eventually spot the old abandoned mill. They hide in the bushes. There is a conical metal structure with a conveyor belt leading to the top. 

……Dean is standing on a makeshift pile of stacked wood scraps and Zoey is standing on his shoulders. She reaches for a small opening high up in the side of the structure where some of the metal is missing. The opening is only big enough for her to squeeze through. She manages to pull herself through the hole and climbs down to the ground. There is a grated air vent at the bottom and she appears on the outside to talk to Dean  
“I’ll find a rope.”  
“I won’t be able to fit through that hole anyway. Just go before they find you. Find Sam.”  
They grip each others fingers through the grate. And then Zoey runs off……

“There.” Zoey points out the waste burner to Sam. “They were keeping us in there.”

They sneak around to the back, and peek through one of the grates at the bottom. Dean is passed out on a pile of wood scraps, he’s been worked over by the Demons and looks to be in bad shape. Sam and Zoey silently make their way around to the grated doors that are locked and being guarded by a pair of Demons. Sam knifes one with Ruby’s blade. As the second Demon turns to see Sam, Zoey stabs it from behind with an Angel blade. Sam picks the lock on the grate and heads in to get Dean while Zoey stands watch. Dean comes to as Sam throws his arm over his shoulder to lift him up. 

“Sam?”

“Shhh."

“No, it’s a trap.”

Sam turns around to see at least 20 Demons surrounding them. One holds a knife to Zoey’s throat. Another steps forward, slowly clapping. 

“What a gift. All the Winchester’s in one place.”

He snaps his fingers and the Demon holding Zoey throws her forward. She lands on her hands and knees, next to the leader. He grabs her by the hair and yanks her head up, pulling on her stitches and making her vision swim with her concussion. 

“I was furious when I heard that you’d escaped,” he speaks in her ear, “but I knew you would come back for daddy. And now, here we are, one big happy family. What joy.”

“Who are you?” Sam needs to buy them time while he tries to figure a way out of this. The odds are not looking good.

“The name is Malphas. But Dean should remember that. He and I go way back.”

“What are you talking about?” Dean spits out. 

Malphas takes in a deep breath, smelling up Zoey’s neck into her hair. Dean tenses as the Demon creeps on his daughter, but Sam holds him back. He’s still holding him up in fact. 

“I was the one who brought them back to life, you know.” He whispers in her ear. “Back in Hell. I forced your father to rape your mother. All so I could have you.” He licks her ear, and Zoey shudders.

“Take your hands off her!” Dean is shaking with fury. 

“Ah-ah-ahhhh.” Malphas tsks at them. “She’s mine now, finally. Your bitch mother managed to run off. I eventually found her, but she had already given birth and ditched you somewhere. She abandoned you, all alone, in Hell.... But my, my, my. You’ve grown into a pretty little thing. The perfect vessel for Khaa.” Zoey struggles as his hand slides down her side, feeling her up, but he tightens the grip on her hair and she winces. “And when Khaa has taken you over,” he pants in her ear, “I’ll make sure you’re awake every time I’m inside you.”

“Enough!” Dean shouts.

Malphas flings his hand out, using his powers to throw Sam and Dean back into the burner. “Kill them,” he orders the horde of Demons, as he turns and drags Zoey away, flanked by several of his closest guards. He recites a spell that shakes the ground, opening a chasm that leads to Hell. 

It’s as if everything moves in slow motion. Zoey sees the Demons close in on Sam and Dean. They start to fight but Dean is already weak and they are severely outnumbered. She closes her eyes and prays before she is dragged down to Hell and the ground closes above them. Sam and Dean are losing. Dean yells out as he is knocked down and a Demon starts punching him in the face repeatedly. He sees Sam get stabbed in the back and collapse to his knees, just like when he was killed the first time, all those years ago. Their eyes meet. This is it. They’ve failed. 

Dean’s ears are ringing louder and louder as the blows rain down on him, when suddenly, Castiel’s voice cuts through all the noise. 

“Close your eyes!”

The boys shut their eyes as a flash of light whites out everything.

………………………

Sam comes to, gasping for air. Jack is kneeling over him, healing him. 

“Jack?"

“Hi Sam.”

Sam sits up, and sees Cas crouching next to Dean. The hunter is kneeling in front of the scar in the Earth where Zoey disappeared. Jack helps Sam to his feet and they head over to them. Dean remains quiet, unresponsive. He’s been healed by Cas, but he is just staring blankly into the dirt. As if he keeps looking, maybe he could find her. 

Cas turns to the younger brother as he approaches. “Sam.”

“How... how did you even know to find us?”

“Zoey.” The Angel explains. “She prayed, more like shouted, in Enochian. She said you would die if we didn’t come here immediately.... Where is she?

“A Demon named Malphas. He took her.”

“Took her where?”

“To Hell.”

“What?” Jack blurts out.

Sam shakes his head. “Malphas is the one behind everything. He was in Hell. He was the one who…” he glances at Dean. “He ‘arranged’ for Zoey to be the vessel for Khaa. But... he’s in love with Khaa. He plans to…"

Cas holds up a hand to stop Sam from saying any more. 

…………………..

Dean is in shock, that much is clear. As far as Cas knows, he is the only one Dean has fully confided in regarding the events of how Zoey came to be. And now Dean has lost her to the same Demon that took so much from him already. A Demon who promises to violate her as well. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Dean is blaming himself for all of this. It’s Dean, after all.

Cas moves himself between Dean and the scar in the Earth, but Dean still doesn’t see him. He places a hand over his shoulder and feels their bond. He know’s Dean feels it too. Slowly, green eyes start to focus and meet with blue. They stare silently at each other.

“Cas?” his voice is barely a whisper, broken and thick with emotion.

“Let’s go get her back.” Cas helps Dean to his feet. 

“Dean?” Sam’s worry over his older brother is evident.

Dean grabs Sam in a fierce hug. “I thought I lost you.”

Sam hugs him back. “Me too.”

When they step apart, Jack approaches and places what looks like an engraved angle blade into Dean’s hand. Dean looks down at it. When he holds it out the blade flares to life, encased in Holy Fire. “We found it in Syria.”

Cas breaks the silence. “We found more than just the sword in Syria.”


	11. The Tree of Life

The intense dry heat assaults her senses. It radiates from the stone cliff-face they are walking along, oh, and from the river of molten lava down below. Zoey staggers for a moment, the ground is uneven and littered with rocks and bits of obsidian. The Demon behind her decides to ‘help out’ by shoving her forward, causing her to fall painfully to her knees, tearing her jeans and cutting the skin beneath. She takes the opportunity to palm a shard of the dark glass.

“Is the other team ready?” Malphas asks.

“Y-yes, sir,” a different Demon replies while the one that shoved her yanks her to her feet again. His stuttering draws the intense gaze of Malphas upon him. “Th-there was some resistance from a local group of hunters. The ones being aided by the Angel and the Nephilim….”

“And…” Malphas prompts when the Demon trails off.

“They got the Fire Blade from North Dakota.”

“They what?!” He roars.

“B-but the site is secure once more, a-and you now have the blade from Colorado, Sir…”

Malphas pulls out what looks like an Angle bBlade with an intricately engraved handle, it blazes with Holy Fire. He holds it up to the neck of the Demon, who immediately shuts up. 

“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

The tension in the group is palpable. 

“They captured Valac.”

“Is that all?” Malphas growls out.

“Y-yes, Sir.”

Without preamble Malphas stabs the Demon through the heart. His body flashes and burns into a pile of ash. “Khaa will not be resurrecting you.” He extinguishes and returns the blade, before continuing his march along the cliff. The rest of the group scrambles to catch up.

The Demons are still on edge after Malphas’ display of power, so their attention is more on him and less on her. The path narrows up ahead, forcing them closer to the edge. It’s now or never. She plants her foot and shoulders the Demon next to her, throwing him off balance and into the river of lava below. She slashes out to her other side with the shard of obsidian, blinding the Demon as the sharp edge catches him across the eyes. She ducks as the one behind her tries to grab her, and uses his momentum to throw him over her shoulder. Unfortunately the angle is wrong and he lands on the path instead of falling to his demise. By then, the rest of the group has had time to react and she is shoved back into the wall. The back of her skull makes sharp contact with the stone and pain explodes in her head. 

“You think you’re clever.”

She can feel Malphas’ hot breath on her face. She tries to turn away in disgust, but he reaches out and grabs her chin. Still to dizzy to stare him down, she spits at him. He pauses, before wiping his face. 

“You will soon learn that you don’t have a choice in this matter.”

He pulls out a wicked looking knife and waves it in front of her face, before grabbing the collar of her shirt and pulling it down to expose the anti-possession tattoo. Without any hesitation he carves into her skin. She bites her lower lip trying not to scream, but he keeps at it until she gives in. Her cries echo through the underground cavern. With a lascivious grin he leans in and licks a searing path through her bloody wounds. When she gasps with the pain, he kisses her, forcing his tongue into her mouth where she can taste her own blood.

……………………..

The intense dry heat assaults his senses. They are in western Syria, out in the desert. Dean staggers for a moment, shaking off the feeling of disorientation associated with teleporting.

Cas and Jack lead them into the hunter encampment. It consists of a few tents and makeshift shelters in the ruins of a bombed out building. Everyone they see is heavily armed. It reminds Dean of the hunter camps in Apocalypse world. 

A woman in a brown head scarf with light brown eyes walks over to them. “You’re back! We were worried when you both disappeared.”

“Rima, I’d like you to meet Sam and Dean,” Cas introduces them. “Rima is in charge here.”

“It is nice to meet you. We have heard much about you.” She looks their party over, concern crossing her features. “But where is the girl?”

Dean looks away.

Cas answers her. “We need to talk. Gather the others.”

……………………

Under the shade of a sun bleached tarp, a dozen hunters join them. The others stay on guard, manning the perimeter. Cas gets everyone up to speed. 

Apparently the Demons that took over the drilling rig have been working day and night, excavating out in the desert. About a week ago, they stopped digging, and started sending teams down into the earth. The hunters tried attacking the dig site, but even with Cas and Jack, they were severely outnumbered. They were able to steal the Fire Blade that the Demons had taken from North Dakota, and they also captured one of the Demons for questioning, prior to making a hasty retreat. That’s how they discovered that the Demons had indeed broke through into an underground cavern containing a massive tree. Cas also tells the hunters that Zoey is the chosen vessel for Khaa, but thankfully leaves out the details of why she is the chosen one.

“If the Demons have Zoey and access to the Tree of Life, the will not waste time in summoning Khaa.” The concern in Rima’s voice is evident. “Then there is no time to lose. We have to strike them immediately.”

One of the other hunters speaks up. “Sister, we lost many the last time we attacked. We are not enough.”

“Mahdi, we must try again.” Rima insists. 

“She’s right,” Sam agrees. “If we don’t stop them now, then we all lose everything.”

“We have heard about many of your exploits, Winchester, even here in Syria. But we have lost dozens in this war already,” Mahdi argues. “How can just the two of you make a difference?”

“Not us, but I know someone who can.”

……………………..

“It’s literally been ages since I last set foot in the Middle East,” Rowena declares, as she and Jack appear in the hunter camp.

“Ro!” Sam runs over to her. “How are you feeling?”

“The boy fixed me up, good as new.” She extends a slender leg, sans cast, and reaches up to pat his cheek. “Now,” she says, turning to the group of hunters that gathered round. “I hear you have a Demon problem. Lucky for you I have a solution.” She opens her bag and pulls out several long wooden boxes. She lifts the lid of one of them to reveal glowing glass disks.

……………………..

Zoey coughs and sputters awake as a splash of water hits her in the face. A Demon holds a bottle to her parched lips. She drinks as much as she can, trying not to let any more of the precious liquid spill. When it’s empty, he gets up and walks away. 

It’s still ungodly hot. She squints against the glaring sun to take in her surroundings and is greeted with the view of a vast desert… and Demons, a lot of Demons. Even if she could get free, there are too many to fight, and there is no where to run. She sighs in defeat. Over the last 300 years she’s never been in a situation this hopeless, and that’s saying something given her upbringing.

Her head is still pounding from her concussion. She looks down at her blood soaked shirt. At least the bleeding appears to have stopped. But her hands have gone numb from the ropes that secure her to the post she is sitting against. The post is inside an intricate circle drawn on the ground, blocking any prayers from getting to Cas or anyone else that might be listening.

A flurry of activity draws her attention to the Demons surrounding the giant hole they have drilled into the Earth. Malphas is giving out orders and then he heads over to her with several lackeys in tow. They start to untie her. 

“It’s time for you to fulfill your purpose,” he says.

They grab her roughly by the arms and walk/drag her over to a crate elevator suspended from a crane. Malphas takes over and walks with her inside before ordering their descent into the shaft.

Free of the circle she takes a chance and sends a silent prayer. “Cas, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I don’t think I’m going to make it out of this. Tell Dean… tell my Dad I love him.”

…………………………..

The group of hunters is making their last minute preparations before heading out. Everyone is armed with Angel Blades, Hoy Water, and Individual Demon Bombs. The problem last time was that the Demons saw them coming. The desert didn’t offer much cover for their final approach. This time it will be different.

Cas watches Dean. His hunter has remained fairly silent throughout their planning, but he can see in the way that he can’t keep still that he is anxious to move out. As if he can sense Cas’ gaze, Dean pauses and looks over at him. His green eyes are like an oasis in the desert.

…. “Cas, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I don’t think I’m going to make it out of this. Tell Dean… tell my Dad I love him.”….

“Cas?” Dean rushes over. “Cas, what’s wrong.”

“We have to go!” Before Dean can question him he calls out. “Everyone! We’re moving out. Right now!” 

“Cas?” He ignores the pleading in Dean’s voice, as the group gathers round.

“Castiel, what is going on?” Rima asks.

“They are taking Zoey to the Tree. We have to leave now.”

Rima gives a sharp whistle and the group organizes instantly. Everyone circles around Jack. Those in the center place a hand on his shoulders, and grab onto those further out until the entire group is connected. Cas stands aside with Dean, planing on taking him separately. Jack looks at them. 

“He’s done this before, right?” Dean whispers to Cas. Never before has the hunter seen an Angel try to teleport so many in one go. But, then again, Jack is the most powerful Nephilim ever.

“No,” Cas whispers back.

“No! What do you mean, no?”

“But he will,” Cas answers back with confidence. He gives Jack a nod of approval and Jack nods back. In a blink the whole group is gone. Cas and Dean are right behind them.

……………………..

Dean hears the sounds of fighting off in the distance. Cas took him to a spot far away from the main group. On their left, the Demons and Hunters clash in an all out battle. The hunters are easily outnumbered, but the element of surprise and Rowena’s Demon Bombs have evened the playing field. There is no sign of Malphas or Zoey among the fray. On their right is a gaping hole in the surface of the Earth. The cable from he crane is fully deployed, so Malphas and Zoey must be at the bottom. With just a glance to each other they head right.

“Cas, can you get us down there?” Dean asks. 

The Angel grips his shoulder tight and concentrates but nothing happens. 

“Cas?”

“Something’s wrong,” his voice is strained with effort.

“What do you mean?”“Halfway down I lose all sense of awareness.”

“Is it warded?” Dean starts looking around for symbols.

“No, this is different.”“Different how?”

They hear Jack scream, drawing their attention back to the battle raging on behind them. Dean sees the momentary look of fear pass through Cas’ eyes. Decision made, Dean jumps into the cab of the crane and grabs a pair of thick leather work gloves that are sitting on the console. 

“Dean,” Cas’ voice is wary as Dean puts on the gloves. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going after her.” He grabs Cas by the tie and pulls him in for a rough kiss before pushing him away. “Go. Help them. They need you.” He takes a few steps back, and psychs himself up. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” he says before he can second guess his stupid plan, then runs to the edge of the hole and jumps. He grabs the cable and clings to it like a literal life line. He shares one last look with Cas, his blue eyes deeper than the clear desert sky above them. “Pull us up when it’s over.” And with that he slides down the cable.

…………………….

The sound of fighting fade and the air gets cooler the further down he goes. The small circle of light from above is barely lighting his way. He continues on more by feel than sight. He senses the change about halfway down. Everything just feels… different. Like stepping through a portal.

At first he thinks his eyes are playing tricks on him, but there really is a glow coming from beneath him now. He finally breaks through into the ceiling of a massive cavern. Inside is the biggest tree Dean has ever seen. A massive Banyan tree. The glow is actually coming from the tree itself. The leaves, the bark, the fruit. He can also hear a voice chanting. Malphas.

He sees the crate elevator beneath him and stops his slide down the cable just before he reaches it. Very slowly he shifts his weight onto the top of the crate, careful not to make a sound. He leans against the cable and slowly stretches out his aching hands and muscles. The leather gloves are practically worn through and he abandons them as soon as his fingers are working well enough to remove them. Once the rest of his muscles stop shaking, he quietly climbs down. 

He makes his way towards the center of the Tree, taking cover between giant propagative roots. It’s like walking through a dense forest, if the forest were made entirely of one tree. 

He is getting closer to the chanting. He can recognize some of the words now. A summoning ritual. He hears Malphas finish just as he reaches a small clearing. 

Zoey is leaning against part of the Tree, arms tied above her head to a branch. She’s unconscious, covered in blood, but he is reassured by the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Malphas is kneeling with his back to him, next to a smoking summoning bowl. If he finished the ritual, then Khaa is already on her way. He needs to deal with Malphas now. 

Dean slowly sneaks closer, not making a sound, barely breathing. Suddenly, Malphas stands and spins. He has the other blade in his hand and it blazes to life as it arcs towards Dean’s neck. He reacts just quickly enough to bring his own blade up to block the strike.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” the Demon sneers, and then he attacks Dean ruthlessly.

Dean blocks strike after strike. The blades surrounded in Holy Fire add a whole new element to fighting. Their swings cast a disorienting show of shadow and light all around them, the searing heat threatens to burn even with a missed strike. Now he knows what it feels like to be a Jedi in a light saber battle. 

They are holding their own against each other, evenly matched, when he hears the slither of scales and the hiss of a serpents tongue. The largest snake he has ever seen, at least 50 feet in length, winds its way through the branches and into the clearing.

“My Goddess has heeded my call!” Malphas shouts in triumph.

Khaa does not pay them any attention, instead locking in on Zoey with laser focus. Dean wants to get to her, to protect her, but Malphas blocks his path. Distracted, the Demon is able to get in a hit. Blistering heat strikes his shoulder and he screams out in agony as he is forced to retreat further back. 

Malphas laughs, toying with him. “When Khaa becomes our new Goddess you can be the first sacrificed to her. How would you like that? You can look into your daughter’s eyes as she devours your soul.”

He’s running out of time. Khaa is already coiled around Zoey, flicking a forked tongue at her neck.

He ignores the pain in his shoulder and assaults Malphas with abandon. He starts to recite the Exorcism spell, attacking the Demon on two fronts now. He starts to gain ground as Malphas fights the Latin and his strikes. When he trips over one of the roots at the edge of the clearing, Dean doesn’t hesitate and plunges his blade into the middle of Malphas’ chest. His body flickers with light and burns to ash. Dean doesn’t stop to watch, he is already turning and running towards the serpent. Khaa opens her mouth wide, fangs dripping, ready to strike, as he swings his blade clean through her neck, beheading the ancient beast.

A shock wave of power is released and Dean is thrown back across the clearing before everything goes black.

…………………..

The dig site has become a war zone between the Hunters and Demons. As the chaos of the battle increases, forces on both sides become separated in to pockets of fighting scattered throughout. Despite being outnumbered, Rowena’s Demon Bomb’s have given the Hunters an edge that they did not have during their last assault. That and Rowena’s presence in and of itself. The witch is casting spells to block the demonic powers of the horde while Sam defends her against any that try to take her out. Unfortunately, they still seem to be at an impasse. 

A rumble deep beneath the ground pauses the fighting on both sides as everyone’s attention is brought back to the hole in the Earth. Power explodes from the opening knocking everyone down. 

Sam recovers quickly and helps Rowena up.

“Behind you!” she shouts.

He turns in time to stab the Demon trying to sneak up on him with Ruby’s knife. 

“Ro, what was that? Are Dean and Zoey…?” he can’t bring himself to say it.

“I’m not sure. But I am bloody done with this battle!” She grabs Sam by the arm and drags him over to a more defensible position. “I need five minutes.” She kneels down in a corner near one of the structures and starts to draw some symbols in the sand.

Another Demon rushes him and he fights back. He gets knocked down, but before it moves to strike him, it’s body flashes and it’s black eyes close for good. Madhi yanks an Angel Blade out from the Demon’s back and pushes the body off to the side. He reaches out his hand and they clasp forearms as he helps the tall hunter up.

“Thanks,” Sam says.

“It looks like you needed the help,” Madhi replies.

“We need to keep the Demons away from Rowena, she’s working on something to end this mess.”

They fight side by side as Rowena starts to chant. Whatever she’s doing, he can feel the pressure build around them and spread outward. She cuts her palm and slams it down in the middle of her symbols.

All noise stops. It’s like everyone at the dig site suddenly became deaf. Madhi is shouting at him from two feet away but he can’t hear a thing. For a moment, Sam really thinks he has lost his hearing, but then Rowena’s voice booms over the area. It’s so loud he drops to his knees and claps his hands over his ears. That’s when he realizes her voice is inside his head, and she is reciting the exorcism spell. He looks around and sees the remaining Demons smoking out all around him. 

When the spell is finished, the noise of the world comes crashing back in like a wave. He shares a look of awe with Madhi as they realized the battle is over. He turns around in time to see Rowena pass out and slump over.

“Ro!” Sam scrambles over to her. She’s pale but she is breathing.

That’s when the earthquake hits. 

…………………….

A deafening rumble wakes Dean with a start. The ground is shaking and the rock walls of the cavern are screaming as they grind together. Trying to hang onto the ground is like trying to ride a mechanical bull. The tremors seem to last forever, but they eventually die down. He’s left panting on the floor of the clearing. 

Zoey! He sits up and sees her tangled in the headless body of Khaa against the Tree. He scrambles over, ignoring the flare of pain in his shoulder.

“Zoey! Zoey!”

The body of the snake is too heavy to move. So he cuts the ropes trying her wrists to the branch above her and pulls her out from the thick coils of scale covered muscle. She groans weakly with the movement as he carries her into the clearing to lay her down and check her for injuries. 

The front of her shirt is stiff with dried blood. Peeling back her collar he see the bastard carved up her anti-possession tattoo. The hair on the back of her head is also matted with dried blood. 

“Zoey? Come on, kiddo. It’s time to wake up,” he says, trying to keep the edge of fear out of his voice. Her eyes flutter open, but she has trouble focusing on him. “That’s it, Zoey, look at me.”

“Dean?” her voice is harsh and dry. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

“Sam?”

“Sammy’s okay too. Cas and Jack got to us in time.”

She starts to drift off again.

“Zoey! Zoey!” he shouts, waking her up again. “You got to stay awake.” She tries to focus on him again but he notices her pupils are different sizes. He holds up one finger. “Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“Too many.”

Shit! She’s got a really bad concussion. “That’s what I thought. Okay, we gotta get you outta here and then Cas can heal you up.” 

The ground rumbles again. He covers her body with his own, as a large stone comes crashing through the branches and shatters on the ground next to them. The after shock is short but there may be more and they are deep underground. Fuck! Can’t something just be easy for once! He pockets both engraved Angel Blades and gently picks Zoey up, carrying her through the maze of branches, back towards the crate elevator.

……………………

Jack finds Sam, Rowena, and Madhi just as the first after shock hits. It only lasts for about 30 seconds, and they ride it out. His jacket is badly torn and bloody across his back, but it looks like he already healed himself. 

“How is she?” he kneels beside them.

“I think she just fainted.” 

Jack puts two fingers to her forehead and her eyes flutter open. 

“Ro, how you feeling?” Sam asks.

“Like I could sleep for a week.” She sounds exhausted from the spell.

Cas and Rima spot them and run over. Madhi embraces his sister. 

“That was incredible,” Rima says to Rowena. “You are truly the most power witch I have ever seen.”The compliment brings some color to his lover’s cheeks. 

“Sam, we need to get Zoey and Dean out of that hole,” Cas states with urgency.

“Can’t you just teleport down there and get them?”

“No. I tried to get us down there when the fighting began, but something was blocking my powers.”

“Let me try.” Jack stands and helps the others to their feet.

They all head over to the edge of the hole. Jack has a strained look on his face, but he can’t get down their either. “I don’t know why, but it’s like the bottom of that pit exists someplace else.”

“Angels!” Madhi rolls his eyes at them. “Sometimes you just have to do things the old fashioned way. We will pull up the elevator. If they are not in it, then we will go down after them.” 

Madhi is walking over to the crane when the next after shock hits. They are all thrown to the ground with the force of it. Unlike the first after shock, this one is longer and builds in intensity. Sam hears a crack and his heart drops into his stomach. No! The edge of the hole starts to break up and fall in. Cas and Jack grab onto everyone and teleport them back a safe distance from the hole as the ground crumbles outward.

“Dean!” Sam shouts as he tries to rush forward to save his brother, but Cas just grabs him and holds him down. When the rumbling stops, the hole has completely collapsed in on itself. 

………………………

Dean cradles Zoey to his chest as he carries her to the crate elevator. When he gets there the ground starts shaking again. He reaches out to open to door when a falling stone almost takes his hand off. He tries again but stones start crashing down all around them. He’s backing away as a giant boulder smashes the metal crate elevator flat. He runs as the entire cavern collapses. 

…………………….

Dean wakes up. At least he thinks he does. He’s not sure. He tries to open his eyes and he realizes they are already open. Everything is pitch black. He tries to move and regrets it immediately. He feels like he was hit by a car. What the fuck happened? Like he’s done so many times before in his life, he starts to slowly test his body, cataloguing his injuries. He thinks he’s bumped and bruised all over, but it’s hard to tell in the dark. A few of his ribs feel cracked, there’s a gash on his forehead that’s feels sticky with blood. His shoulder stings fiercely like he was burned… 

It all comes rushing back to him. He searches around in his coat and feels the engraved handles of the Holy Fire Blades. He pulls one out and lights it up. The light is blinding after being in absolute darkness, and it takes a moment to for his eyes to adjust. He’s in the small side passage he made it to just as the entire cavern collapsed behind them. The entrance is completely blocked with rock and stone. In the other direction, the passage seems to continue beyond the light of the blade.

“Zoey?” he calls out. His voice echos down the passage. He hears some smaller rocks shift near him and a groan. “Zoey!” He scrambles over a stone as big as he is towards the noise and breaths a sigh of relief when he sees her. 

“Dean?” Her voice is rough. She’s partially buried in a pile of rubble. 

“Don’t move. I’m going to get you out.”

One of her hands is free and he gives her the blade to hold so he can see what he’s doing. He slowly starts to shift the pile rock by rock, not wanting to risk destabilizing anything. 

“How you doing, kiddo?” He wants to keep her talking, but every breath he takes makes his ribs ache. 

“Everything hurts.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.”

She cries out as he moves a rock that was trapping her arm. Her arm is broken just above the wrist joint. 

“Fuck!” she growls out between clenched teeth as she takes in the sight. 

Dean pulls off his jacket so he can remove his flannel to rip into several strips. He also unstraps the knife he carries from his belt. With the sheath and handle, it’s about 8 inches and will make do as a splint. After he gets everything ready he pauses. 

“I’m going to feel it first so I know how to set it. Okay?”

“Yeah, just get on with it.” Zoey’s face is grim and a little pale.

“Just try not to pass out and drop the light or I won’t be able to see what I’m doing.”

She winces as he gently probes the fracture. 

“Okay, on three.” He gets ready. “One.” He quickly pulls out on her wrist and pushes down on the bone to set it back in place. She screams. “It’s over, it’s over,” he soothes as he quickly ties her arm to the make shift splint and secures it in a flannel sling. She pants through the pain, but manages to remain conscious. 

He pulls her out from the rest of the debris and sits her down against his chest as he leans up against the rock wall. “Okay, let’s take a break,” he pants. Dean takes back the blade and runs the fingers of his other hand though her sweat damp hair. She shivers so he drapes his coat over both of them to keep her warm. She’s going into the early stages of shock but there’s not much else he can do at the moment. 

“Do you think they can get to us?” she asks after several minutes.

“I don’t think so. That cave in was massive. It would take them weeks to make it down here.”

“What about Cas? Can he find us down here?”

“I’ve got protective sigils burned into my ribs, so even if he can hear me he can’t find me. Why don’t you try.”

Zoey concentrates and then they wait. Nothing happens.

“It was a long shot anyway.” He tries to hides the disappointment in his voice. “Cas couldn’t teleport down here before. I think there is a barrier or something.”

“You felt it too? On your way down?”

“Yeah.” He sighs. “I think were on our own.” Dean holds up the blade to light up the stone passage. 

Zoey follows his gaze. “I wonder where it leads?”

“Hopefully it leads us somewhere.”

She leans her head back down against him. 

“Thanks for saving me, De-… Dad. I love you.”

“I love you too, kiddo.” He presses a kiss to the top of her head and holds her tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fear Not! I have a part two partially written, so you will get to find out what happens to Dean and Zoey.   
> Thank you so much for reading this! I started writing this for me on and off a few years ago and only recently realized I wanted to polish it up and post it. Please let me know what you think.


End file.
